Mrs and Mrs Priestly
by Pandora007
Summary: This was my second story in the Devil Wears Prada universe. It's a crazy crossover with Mr. and Mrs. Smith, sort of! Andy/Miranda Femslash of course!
1. Chapter 1

**Autho**r: pandora007

**Disclaimer**: Miranda, Andy belongs to Fox2000.

**Pairing**: Miranda/ Andy

**Rated**: K

**Fandom:** Devil wears Prada crossover with Mr. and Mrs. Smith, sort of!

**A/N**: This was my second story in the Devil wears Prada universe. Dragonwine was my great CO-writer/Beta from chapter 1 to chapter 6.

**Mrs. ****&**** Mrs. Priestly**** - ****Chapter 1**

Andy's fingers danced around impatiently. She despised waiting, only calming down a fraction when she looked over to allow her eyes to drink in the image of the lovely woman who was currently dissecting layout notes fresh from the art department on her Blackberry. '_As usual'_, she thought rolling her eyes. Andy was well-versed on the routine; her tolerance often stretched to the seams due to the woman's chaotic schedule causing destruction at the most inopportune occasions. In spite of the modest tinge of annoyance Andy didn't fail to observe how substantially ethereal the woman seated beside her still managed to appear in light of her whirlwind lifestyle, her epic presence remained resolute even in the face of her studied concentration.

Granted, Miranda Priestly looked impeccable every day and today was hardly an exception to the rule. In her Galliano dress, her face in subtle make up and the iconic style of her snowy hair swept away from her flawless features, the woman defined effortless, trend-setting splendor. She didn't know if she was more in love with the power those azure eyes exuded or the simple wonder of tangling her hands in Miranda´s chromatic locks when they were making love. Ok. When they _used_ to make love.

The abrupt opening of the office door shoved Andy back into reality and caused Miranda to unleash her signature glare at the person in question. Her stare clearly communicating to the man that, '_You are the one that is supposed to wait for me not otherwise._'

"I'm sorry Miranda, Andrea but the traffic was jammed," he said by way of explanation.

"Details of your delay are of no interest to me."

The arctic words severed the air pinning him precariously between the door and the safety of his chair. Miranda casually turned her attention to powering off her Blackberry, paying no heed to the reaction her words had just triggered.

"It's ok, we weren't waiting for long." Andy glanced at Miranda, hoping to dissolve her icy mood and avoid scaring the man two minutes into their first session. Judging by the looks of him profusely starting to sweat, she strongly suspected that she was already too late. Miranda's chilly delivery was as infamous as her rise to power in the fashion world and even a man of his position wasn't entirely immune to the frosty bite. "And please feel free to call me Andy."

"Ok then, let's get started," he said, unconsciously wiping the beads of sweat that flecked his forehead with the back of his hand. He positioned himself in the leather chair in front of them and flipped open a notepad, poising his pen idly above the paper. "Why do you think you are here today?"

"Well," Andy gazed at Miranda and she nodded back, granting silent permission for her to continue. She returned her attention to him. "We don't really need to be here."

"Right," Miranda added.

"Right sweetie," Andy agreed, smiling at her. "We've been married for quite some time now and we agreed that we need routine insight, an unbiased medium to help put things into perspective."

"Exactly." Miranda once more finished the sentence.

"Okay, so how long have you been married?"

"Two years," Miranda said in advance this time, causing Andy to regard her, raising an eyebrow. Miranda's features remained as hard and unreadable as stone.

"She meant to say three years precisely," Andy corrected, her gaze never faltering from Miranda.

"No Andrea…" Miranda looked to the side, locking those piercing, sapphire eyes on the brunette. "I _meant_ to say _two_ years."

"I don't know about you, _sweetheart_," Andy countered, wrapping strong emphasis around the familiar term of endearment, "but I clearly remember it like it was yesterday. It was three years ago, at our home in the Hamptons that I recited my vows to you. I can even recall the press going crazy over the security measures taken just to keep them out that weekend. On the other hand you seem to have forgotten an entire damn year of our marriage," Andy finished faking a pleasant smile.

"Undoubtedly _darling_," Miranda made sure to place just as much emphasis where it counted. "Clearly you are so happy in our marriage that you've managed to tack another year onto your memory." Miranda faked her own smile as well. "I would never forget something like that. We married seven months after you, with no consideration or respect for me or your responsibilities, left me in Paris," Miranda smoothly reminded her and the younger woman had the decency to whimper in her seat. Exactly how many times would she have to be reminded of that fact? Details were something that Andrea used to excel at, at what point had that skill faded and been replaced by significant inconsistencies? "This, I can guarantee you with complete certainty, was not one or three but _two_ years ago," Miranda finished lifting two fingers toward the therapist in finality.

Within a space of few moments the therapist's sweating had increased, the palpable tension elevating through the room becoming a living thing that engulfed them all. He cleared his throat in an effort to contain the intense discussion as he tried approaching the issue from a different angle. "How many times do you usually have sex?"

"Why is that relevant?" Miranda's annoyance laced the sharp retort.

Andy pinched her leg attempting not to laugh but she failed, a small giggle seeped from her full lips, but she quickly regained her composure, smoothing her features to an impression of seriousness again. Too late. Miranda noticed and clearly didn't appreciate the humor in it at all. Miranda raked her eyes over her before turning her attention back to the waiting therapist. "Well, quite often, I'm not counting," she finished considering Andy again, daring her with a stare to say something.

"How about this week?" he asked the couple.

"Depends." Andy spoke up. "The week starting on Sunday or are you considering the working days week?" Andy asked and Miranda purred, rolling her eyes.

"Just give me a number." The therapist started to get slightly anxious, despite himself. "You know what? No need to answer that now. Just tell me how you used to feel about each other regarding sex."

"Well…" Andy started cautiously, "we used to make love not have sex," she continued, smiling sincerely at Miranda now. "She used to be crazy about me." She looked back at the attentive therapist, adoration suddenly lighting her eyes up. "In the beginning the term 'bunnies' could be applied liberally, we couldn't keep our hands off of each other." Andy smiled again at the heated memories.

Miranda could only close her eyes, involuntarily walking through the shared corridors of those memories as well. In all honesty she couldn't exactly explain the origins of the emotional chasm evident between them now. Furthermore she certainly couldn't pinpoint when they started to become strangers that shared a bed and she was loathed to admit that it killed her to be a victim of the vulnerability of such helplessness. An inventory of the various reasons behind their current predicament, like their age difference, filtered through her mind, the infuriating doubts looping in constant refrain.

But the apparent age difference never bothered Andrea. _Au contraire_. It was actually a turn on for her younger mate. Standing at this unforeseen crossroad Miranda found herself longing for the power to bend time to her will, aware that she could no longer afford the luxury of denial, much to her dismay. This, like many things when one reflected on Andrea, was a first of many uncharted realities.

Years of honed efficiency within the industry had increased Miranda's expertise at multi-tasking. She nodded in the right places. Pursed her lips when it was necessary, the man's voice going on and on in her peripheral as she floated in the realm of thought.

Perhaps she wouldn't be surrounded by the therapist's hive-inducing color scheme if she didn't always consider herself a person who lived in the moment. No regrets. Never look back. View everything as an opportunity rather than a problem. Naturally that kind of attitude is how she ended up with Andrea and that same attitude had carried a hidden risk of watching the younger woman sift through her grasp. And like all things regarding their unique union, their dilemma hadn't come equipped with a simple solution to the problem. Only when they were finally tethering on the edge of snapping did they resolve to lock themselves between four walls and expose themselves to a perfect stranger's analysis. It was a last desperate attempt to restore the frayed pieces of their once vibrant connection.

Miranda had always known that desperation was notorious for making heroes out of mere cowards and their situation wasn't an exemption to the fact.

That was the real answer to why they had sought out couples therapy.

"The beginnings always have an air of mystery, don't they?" the therapist softly asked.

xxxxxxx

**-2 **_**or**_** 3 years, 6 months and 2 weeks ago -**

Andy stepped into the packed uptown bar, she was in desperate need of a drink to erase the remnants of her shitty day and she was highly relieved by the gratifying fact that it was over. She scanned the dark interior for an empty seat away from the sea of people yearning for a heavy dose of bourbon before she proceeded to pass out in the arms of her bed afterwards. The darkness inside the low-key drinking spot didn't reveal a great deal of detail of the assorted faces floating in and out of her view. But in spite of the muted lighting she instantly recognized the one person her mind refused to let her forget seated in vivid focus at the end of the stainless steel bar that snaked the room. Of course, with the way her day started, she shouldn't have expected that her night would dare be easier and the only quiet seat available just happened to be directly next to that person. '_I have nothing to lose anyway_,' Andy reasoned with herself, slipping through the crowd and carefully approaching the unforgettable figure.

"Sorry to bother you, but is this seat empty?" Andy asked with a smile, causing the person to flick their eyes over her with a glare that could easily freeze air on its molecular level.

"Yes it is, but if you sit, the one I'm in, will be too."

"You never change, huh Miranda?" Andy dropped onto the leather bar stool, smiling.

"You have some nerve Andrea." It wasn't until that moment, when the Editor-in-Chief turned to face her again, that she realized that Miranda was a little buzzed, but her eyes held the same sense of sharp awareness as ever. Miranda Priestly's senses were, as typical of her legendary control, entirely absolute. "After what you did, do you honestly have the audacity to talk to me again?" Miranda hadn't lifted her voice above a whisper, but her tone was glacial, seeping in and chilling Andy to the bone. Some things, as it were, never ceased to change.

"How are the girls?" Andy asked in an effort to switch the subject and diffuse the rising indignation shooting from Miranda in waves. "Why are you not with them?"

"They are fine." Miranda softened, instantly thawing around the mention of her daughters. "Cassidy keeps asking why I fired you," Miranda finished with a sarcastic tilt to lips that could equally slash through incompetence and in the same breath freeze hearts to the point of disintegration.

So of course it made perfect sense for Andy to find the motion of that acidic mouth another fascinating item of interest concerning all things Miranda.

Before Andy could respond a loud bang split their attention away from their conversation and to the main doors of the packed establishment.

"NYPD, everybody quiet!" A man's voice announced.

"Hey Davis, care to tell me what's going down?" Andy leaned over the bar to ask her standard bartender.

"It's the second time this week Andy, they are trying to narrow down a person but I don't know who it is," the lanky man informed her

"Wish I had more to tell ya, but after this there won't be anyone left to tell. We'll be leaking customers by the day."

"Everybody in the back, move up here and get in line now," the police officer shouted stalking around the perimeter of the crowd. Andy was swift to notice a pack of reporters step into the bar as well, following close on the NYPD's heels for a possible scoop.

Andy quickly took hold of Miranda´s wrist. "Come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Miranda objected, freeing her arm from Andy's grasp.

"It's your choice, although I must admit I'm a bit surprised you won't mind seeing your paragraph on _Page 6_ tomorrow." Andy raised a challenging eyebrow. She played the card efficiently, gambling brazenly on the outcome.

Miranda shrugged in defeat, unable to distinguish any loophole in the logic as she allowed her former assistant to guide her discreetly through the press of bodies toward the rear exit of the bar. When they reached the alley beyond Andy efficiently placed ample distance between them and where the back door stood. They rested in companionable silence for a moment and a breath later Andy stiffened with awareness, using her body to drive Miranda into the crumbling brick wall, striving to shield them both after detecting a handful of police cars further down the street.

"What are you doing?"

"It's called taking care of you so nothing bad occurs," Andy whispered only inches apart from Miranda.

"Believe me Andrea, I can take care of myself more than you can imagine." At Miranda's words their eyes fully focused on each other in the dim, pool of streetlight, the stare revealing a rare moment of mutual and pure contemplation. Andy could smell the faint traces of top-shelf scotch on Miranda's breath, but she was certain she was the one who was rapidly on her way to becoming drunk, even without ever consuming a single drop.

"I think they are gone," Miranda noted, trying to push Andy back, but she froze when she heard a dog barking, the sound ricocheting beyond the mouth of the alley.

"Shh…be quiet," Andy whispered, flattening Miranda to the wall, their chests pressing together as a result. Andy willed her body to stillness in the shadowed niche of the alley, certain that even a sheet of paper couldn't slip between their bodies at that point.

Miranda's soft involuntary moan shattered the silence. Andy smiled deviously, goosebumps trickling fast and smooth across her skin, her body righteously answering to the Editor's primal call. It appeared that the 'Dragon Lady' didn't rein complete control over nearly _everything_ in her sphere.

"I'm about to do something that I'm sure will give me a well deserved slap." Andy found her gaze incapable of escaping Miranda's stare as the woman unknowingly undressed her soul. There was a naked and provocative glint to the cool blue eyes. She didn't dare fight it as the look hypnotized her, unraveling her, noses nearly brushing as their ragged breaths mingled heatedly in the pocket of air between them.

This intense web they currently found themselves caught in really should have come to no surprise to either of them. It had purled the surface of their professional relationship throughout long months of working in close quarters, Andy learning to read the domineering woman as reverently as she poured over and committed Shakespeare to memory back at Northwestern.

"Tell me. Are you feeling lucky tonight, Andrea?" Miranda suddenly inquired, never shifting away from the doe brown eyes swimming in front of her.

"I hope so," Andy whispered, her voice dipping low a moment before her full lips descended on Miranda's. Miranda didn't respond initially, but when Andy expertly parted her lips with the tip of her warm tongue silently asking for permission to slip inside, Miranda groaned and granted her entrance, immediately sucking on Andy´s tongue as if she was starving and Andy's velvety tongue held the only key to her survival.

The Editor-in-Chief tasted like warm scotch and elicit promises, a cocktail mix of pleasures tingled across their waltzing tongues. Their kiss was a swirl of flavors. Soft. Electric. Fluid. Andy was pretty convinced that if the sound of waves weren't crashing in her ears she would have heard it when they began moaning openly into the wet caverns of each other´s mouth, their tongues battling for dominance. Deep within the frantic pace of their kiss Andy was beyond space and time. Andy's arm slipped forward, roughly locking one of Miranda's taut, silky thighs around her hip-the only thing keeping them anchored to gravity. She weaved her fingers into the silky hair at the nape of Miranda's neck while Miranda's hands roamed a burning path up her body from her ass, searing up deliciously to her spine. As a consequence, Andy pleasurably noted, everywhere the Editor's touch roamed she left a trail of fire in her wake.

When they broke apart, Miranda was still; her eyes closed, lips gleaming wet, breathing heavily through her nose and brimming on the edge of pleasurable hysteria. A single white lock of hair had fallen free in defiance of the others and it gently caressed her forehead. Andy couldn't stop the wicked smile from blooming on her face if she tried, she licked her lips with the sweet taste of Miranda Priestly now embedded into her skin.

'_God, she is fucking beautiful_,' Andy thought. Actually, if she chose to be honest with herself, she had always thought so and she had equally discovered that now it was a futile effort to deny the potent sexuality that emanated from the powerful woman in her arms. She could barely believe it. She had just French-kissed the infamous 'Snow Queen' and she instantly decided that a repeat performance was an absolute necessity. When she leaned in to capture those shimmering, swollen lips again she felt an open hand sting across her cheek so hard that she lost her footing. Andy tumbled backwards off balance, the sharp tang of blood in her mouth instantly making her come to her senses.

"FUCK. What the hell was that for?" Andy asked holding her throbbing cheek.

"That was for leaving me in Paris," Miranda growled and grabbed Andy´s blouse aggressively, colliding their bodies together again. Seconds later they were devouring each other´s mouths as if it were the last thing they would ever do, ravenous and hungry, the sensuous tension between them flickered and flared into the night.

xxxxxxx

"So would you say you fell in love with each other that night?" the therapist asked.

"Perhaps," Miranda said.

"Do you consider what happened an accident or was fate working a practical joke in your lives?"

"For me it was magical," Andy admitted making the other two look at her. She simply looked over at Miranda and smiled uncontrollably. "I fell in love with her in a heartbeat," Andy declared, causing Miranda to glance down to her platinum wedding band before sliding her eyes over to Andy.

"For me too." The admission was delivered in a near whisper. "That night I could finally confess to myself that I was battling with denial for longer than I care to admit." And at that Miranda genuinely smiled at her wife.

xxxxxxx

_**Back to the alley…**_

"Hey you two…" a man´s voice brought Miranda and Andy back to earth, "go get a room," he continued and that made them disentangle from around each other reluctantly. "This is not an ideal place for two women to be caught after hours at," the police officer explained holding the dog close.

"Yes officer, we were just on our way." Andy took Miranda's hand and led her out of the alley. "Where is Roy?" Andy asked her.

"He's waiting for my call."

"No need, I will take you home," Andy said, walking with purpose as she continued to hold Miranda's hand.

"In a pumpkin, that will change into a car?" Miranda asked sarcastically.

Before Miranda could make any more scathing remarks, Andy disengaged the alarm system and unlocked the door of a brand new BMW Z4 that was parked close to the alley. Miranda´s eyes uncharacteristically widened as she took in the sleek, black vehicle.

"Get in Cinderella," Andy said, holding the door for her.

"I don't want to get arrested in a stolen car," Miranda said slipping gracefully into the passenger seat as Andy laughed.

From memory she knew that Miranda didn't live far away and the powerful German engine made short work of the remaining miles under Andy's smooth guidance and before long she was parking in front of the familiar townhouse and opening the door so Miranda could step out of the car. She escorted Miranda to the front steps of the house, quietly contemplating the disorienting side effects of her first kisses with the enigmatic woman currently keying her code into a high-end security pad.

"Say hello to the girls for me," Andy said as Miranda opened the front door.

"They are not here; it's their weekend with their father." Miranda answered.

"Ah right." Andy combed through her lustrous sheathe of dark hair with an anxious hand.

"Would a night cap be amenable to you?" Miranda offered, carefully observing Andy looking back at the street considering it for a moment.

"Not a good idea." Andy finally faced Miranda again as she leaned casually against the doorframe, sighing. "I'm afraid of what I want to do with you right now and the consequences of those actions."

"It wouldn't be anything that we both didn't want to happen." Miranda opened the door wider to allow Andy to step past the threshold. "I won't bite Andrea."

"I was actually counting on that," Andy said with a shy laugh, shifting closer to Miranda, dropping a light kiss on her perfect lips. Miranda guided her inside the foyer and locked the door behind them, dropping her Chanel bag onto the side table.

"Are you still feeling lucky tonight?" Miranda whispered, reaching out to delicately stroke Andy's wrist, her eyes burning intensely with desire in contrast to the silky touch. Her gaze rove and lazily appraised the stunning brunette before her.

"I think I'm about to win the lottery," Andy said huskily, taking Miranda by her trim waist and pushing her back firmly against the door with astonishing speed, swooping low to unite their lips. The kiss seemed to pour liquid fire into their bodies, setting them off desperately again. The heat wove rapidly between them, instantly drowning them in pure sensation.

"Bedroom. Now." Miranda demanded, leading Andy up the stairs to the master bedroom.

xxxxxxx

"Well then, what changed?" the therapist asked.

Both women locked eyes and then let out long, pent up breaths.

"We got married." They answered at the same time.

TBC?


	2. Chapter 2

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly chapter 2**

**-2 **_**or**_** 3 years ago and a few months later-**

Miranda Priestly loved detail. She highly anticipated the delicious potential of greatness within the smallest aspects of things she considered herself passionate about. Couture. Biographies of French Renaissance painters. Orchid Katanas. An exquisite pair of mocha eyes.

"Good morning."

Miranda could hardly suppress the smugness in her voice at the vision the naked brunette tangled in her silk sheets made. She placed a breakfast tray near one creamy, semi-exposed thigh and unconsciously pulled her bottom lip hungrily between her teeth, committing the image in front of her to her well-attuned memory. The Editor-in-Chief hadn't practiced an organized religion in decades, but she was quite certain that it had to be a sin to look that edible so early in the morning.

Despite her prominent sense of control she felt off balance inside herself. Still dizzy from the impact of her reaction upon crossing paths with Andrea again after Paris. What exactly compelled her to be with a woman who used to believe that cerulean was a mark of feminine fashion and not an offense to every decent color pattern that ever existed? A woman who had slipped through her fingers after witnessing her at her best and her worse? A woman that had turned into her biggest disappointment? Seeing, holding, kissing Andrea had at once given her subconscious all the answers it could ever desire.

Andrea had been nothing more than her employee, and yet she had come to know her better than anyone. She had not only become a trusted assistant, but someone that had become a necessity to her existence when her hidden fear of falling apart was the only thing that had kept her together. Her concealed obsession with the younger woman puzzled, yet fascinated her, drawing them together from day one. And now that she looked back she could clearly see that a profound sense of connection had torn them apart and bridged them together again.

Fate was quite often a mischievous bitch.

"Good morning beautiful," Andy breathed, pulling Miranda into her arms, their lips automatically seeking and finding each other in a lazy kiss. The crimson silk wrapped around Andy slipped down between them as they kissed, revealing the supple rise of smooth, soft breasts.

"What do we do now?" Miranda asked when they finally broke apart to breathe. It hadn't escaped her mind that this feeling of abject uncertainty she was expressing would be shocking to the public eye. She had always been known to wield a self-assurance that was iconoclastic and unshakable. Somehow, in spite of herself, the dark-haired beauty lounging before her had painlessly blown her off her axis.

"Since I am already naked and you brought food I think I'll be properly fueled to make love for the rest of the day," Andy joked, giggling.

"Be serious Andrea." Miranda hit her arm lightly.

"Miranda we've discussed this already. Let's enjoy the moment, it's only been two months," Andy reassured, caressing Miranda´s face in pure reverence. "I can't speak for you but I want to be with you. I´m in lo..." Andy trailed off and Miranda looked unusually shocked, hanging onto the last bit of Andy's sentence, unaware that she had stopped breathing. "I'm in like with you," Andy rephrased with a vibrant smile.

"I am too," Miranda exhaled and leaned in to kiss her. Within seconds she was straddling the younger woman's sweet hips, her hand skillfully dipping between Andrea's long legs underneath the cool silk sheets, gravitating to her core. She wasn't satisfied until she caused a ragged moan to erupt from the brunette's full lips. Miranda had to have her again. Her body and her mind were fully addicted to one Andrea Sachs and both were presently in need of another fix.

"Honey, we don't have time to do this in the way we both we want it," Andy whispered to her lover in aching need, using her hand to stop Miranda's fingers torturous journey over her clit. "I promised the girls that I would take them to Central Park and then to the Met." Andy guided Miranda's hand to her mouth, leisurely licking her lover's glistening fingers, her pink tongue softly stabbing between each elegant digit.

"I almost forgot." Miranda's intense eyes remained fixed on what Andrea's gorgeous mouth was doing at that moment and subsequently recalling the exemplary things it had done to her the night before. "Let's shower then so we can get an early start ahead of the crowds." Miranda reluctantly traded her fingers for her mouth and kissed her, promptly leading them both to the bathroom.

xxxxxxx

"Are you completely out of your mind?" Lily asked, as she carried her gear in and dropped herself onto the leather couch in Andy's spacious office. With an innate gift for seeing the details and the broad strokes in nearly every situation, Lily was well-aware of the fact that it didn't really matter how well you did anything in life, but how far you'll take it. Worried over the safety of her friend's heart, she felt compelled to force Andy's intentions under a microscope.

"I tried to imagine my life without the word 'love' in it, Lily. And guess what? It didn't stick," Andy answered while expertly fine-tuning the high-tech wire in her bra. The five-thousand dollar piece of equipment and its companion monitors were designed for concealment and efficiency. Luckily for her particular needs size and weight also added into that equation.

"Andy, you are in love every other week," Lily reminded her.

"Not this time. This time it's for certain and I hope for good," Andy confirmed, adjusting the camera in the mirror. "And her children and I get along very well."

Lily absently let the digital video monitor she held fall from her hands and shatter into fragile pieces. "Children?"

"You know you will have to pay for that," Andy warned her turning on her heel, leaving the office. '_If she flips out over kids, she will die when I tell her to whom the kids belong_,' Andy thought smirking to herself.

xxxxxxx

"Please Andy I want the big bear with the guitar," Cassidy said, tugging Andy toward the vividly-painted shooting gallery planted in the middle of the kiosks lining the sidewalks in Central Park.

"Sweetie, I'm terrible at that," Andy said in a veiled attempt to make Cassidy change her mind.

"Honey don't push her, you can have your pick of bears from FAO Schwartz." Miranda bargained with her daughter.

"Cassidy you are not seven anymore," Caroline snapped, rolling her eyes in an expression identical to her influential mother.

"Fine. It doesn't need to be the big bear then, just a small one please." Cassidy whipped out the big guns now and made the irresistible puppy eyes that the twins knew the young woman could rarely refuse and like clockwork Andy sighed in defeat.

"Okay," she agreed approaching the man running the shooting-gallery. "How much is it?"

"Seven dollars for the brown-eyed girl. You have five chances; you win anything from candies to the big bear. You just have to hit something."

"To get the big bear, how many points do I have to make?" Andy inquired as she loaded her air gun.

"You have to shoot the moving target five times in the middle and score five hundred points total," the man instructed her.

Miranda chuckled and Andy shot her a look over her shoulder. "Is there something funny, babe?"

"Of course not darling," Miranda answered, slyly admiring Andy's attractive backside in her snug True Religion jeans as the young woman aimed the gun at the middle of the target. She shot and only managed to hit sixty points worth. The man handed her a bag of colorful jelly beans as a prize. When Andy glanced to the side she distinctly noticed that Miranda was trying hard to muffle a laugh with little success.

"I want to try again," she said already reloading the gun. She aimed at the center again and _bang_ she shot a decent five and got four hundred points.

"Wow that was great!" Cassidy yelled and punched the air excitedly as the impressed man handed down the fuzzy medium size bear with the guitar. "Thanks Andy." She wrapped herself around Andy in an impulsive, but admiring hug.

"Beginners luck." Andy winked at Miranda who she noted was suddenly not laughing anymore. "Wanna try?" Andy taunted Miranda as a challenging grin lifted the corners of her inviting mouth.

"No I don't."

"It's ok baby, I understand that you don't have to be perfect at _everything_," Andy easily provoked, raising a dark eyebrow.

"Give me the gun," Miranda demanded, swinging it to her left hand once she had it, locking eyes with Andy as she loaded the gun with one hand. If she happened to make the weekend headlines it wouldn't be for lack of seizing victory.

Miranda slipped into position and the guy started the daunting targets moving again, she aimed and started to shoot with an unnatural ease. Five impressive shots. Five hundred points.

"Where did you..?" Andy stuttered looking stunned as Miranda finished, tossing the gun into her hands.

"Beginners luck," Miranda leaned in close to purr in Andy's ear and gave her a perfumed kiss on the cheek as the man handed the big bear to Cassidy and Caroline pretended to get the medium one to casually indulge her sister.

xxxxxxx

**-Present day-**

_Frankel, Slade, & Weisberger Licensed Therapists –_ 21st floor elevator

"So what did you think?" Andy asked pressing the glowing, gold button for the ground floor.

"I think he asked a lot of indiscreet questions."

"Agreed." Andy's gaze traveled to the ceiling while the silence stretched like a rubber band pulled to its limits.

"And his office is hideous, a deplorable arrangement of primary colors. I could hardly concentrate," Miranda abruptly added with disgust. "With the ridiculous price tag on these sessions, couldn't he afford to invest in less than repulsive taste in furniture?"

"So are we coming back again?" Andy asked leaning against the steel interior of the elevator and crossing her arms. She had long since learned that in order to be the Editor's spouse she had to occasionally defer to her natural tendency to lead and to _never_ underestimate the outcome of that choice. "Not that we really need to," she added.

"We will see," Miranda said as the elevator arrived at the lobby and she strode out, her Manolo Blahnik stilettos striking hard across the marble floor.

"Can you give me a ride?" Andy asked when she caught up to Miranda's side.

"Certainly, Andrea. I have a meeting at three, which leaves us with just enough time to drop you off," Miranda informed her staring directly ahead as they made their way through the revolving doors. Roy was promptly awaiting them, holding the back door open to a pristine champagne Mercedes idling at the curb.

xxxxxxx

"I'm disgustingly in love," Miranda confessed, lowering her guard long enough to acknowledge her heart pounding in devotion even as she formed the undeniable words.

Relying on three decades worth of aikido to dictate her actions she made superb use of her toned muscles and the natural power of her forward momentum to execute a fluent kick no one would ever consider her capable of. Sunlight drifted through the high-rise windows, shimmering in the space between them. The Editor's envious feminine form deceptively cloaking the strength and skill of exceptional reflexes as they squared off, circling each other across the hardwood in the private dojo.

"Please stop. I don't wanna listen to this nonsense anymore," Roy said dodging sharply to his left before Miranda's foot could connect with his nose. "You two have only been together for what, couple of months?" He suddenly counted himself lucky to have been paying enough attention to evade Miranda´s fist arching dangerously close to his abdomen.

He grunted under the necessity to move faster, breathing hard through his nostrils as his t-shirt continued to soak itself in sweat. "And need I remind you she was your employee? You don't know zilch about her and more importantly, she knows nothing about the _real _you."

Roy moved in to deliver a hit to a vulnerable, unguarded spot at her chest but the perceptive Editor had simply called his bluff, luring him in closer, already several steps ahead of him. In a flash he found his body connecting with the padded wall as he was slammed into it, the impact winding him. He knew, merely by observing his first-in-command, that there was something to be attested to the advantage of experience and the refusal to rely solely on one's experience as a substitution for consistent training. He had worked closely with the woman looming before him for more years than he could recount and she somehow still managed to remain as unpredictable as a lightning strike.

"Andrea is an open book and she knows enough about me." Miranda paused, considering the panting man, trying to reel in her frustration. She preceded slowly, her voice coming back to its usual cool cadence. "Despite all odds we are in love. And the girls seem to be remarkably comfortable and accepting of this addition to our lives. Suffice it to say they are happy too and that's all that is relevant to the issue."

"Miranda frankly," Roy took a step back, almost falling on his ass when Miranda shifted with astounding speed to attack him again as they resumed sparring. "you? In love?"

"I don't have to justify myself to you or anyone else." Miranda dropped her arms; unaware that her eyes possessed a subtle glimmer of actual and rare tenderness. This look, so unlike her trademark expressions, was something normally reserved only for private moments with her daughters.

"I feel different around her," she suddenly blurted out and exhaled softly as if the sheer admission caused her both pleasure and pain. "I feel dizzy, my heart skips beats I think it may need later on, my hands sweat, and dear God my chest _aches_, Roy. Is this in the realm of normality?" she whispered as if it were a conspiracy. "It's like running through a minefield of stimuli." Miranda was so wrapped up in her explanation she hadn't noticed herself smiling, the gesture prompted by the subliminal mention of Andrea alone.

"Sorry to say Miranda, but you are not in love, what you're experiencing is nothing more than the acute symptoms of a heart attack." Roy corrected, laughing. His distraction instantly caused his defenses to drop and Miranda quickly took advantage of the slip, using an arm lock to put him where she wanted.

He never saw it coming. She expended little time pressing her index and middle finger into his vulnerable upper chest, twisting her fingertips harshly, attacking the point between his clavicle bone and neck. A second later he crumpled to the shiny hardwood with a pained moan. Air became a distant memory as the flux of blood and oxygen were instantaneously severed from his straining veins.

Miranda circled his body, watching with detached fascination as he flopped around like a trout, struggling for precious air. "_That_ Roy, is what a heart attack feels like."

"Miranda _please_," Roy begged as a trail of warm blood started to trickle from his nose. His face burned hotly with the strain on his lungs. He tried to have the decency not to faint as he felt his heart and his brain starting to suffer from the lack of oxygen.

As his vision started to dim he helplessly watched Miranda bend over him and quickly apply her two fingers into the points between his chest and trachea, resuming the natural flux of blood flow again. He jerked to his side on the floor, coughing and wiping the droplets of blood from his nose with the back of a shaking hand.

"Jesus, remind me to never make jokes about your love life again." Roy choked out, trying to suck in deep breaths of air while Miranda gracefully collected her towel from one of the cedar wood benches and exited the dojo without a further word. Clearly the most vital lessons in their line of work were still administered firsthand.

xxxxxxx

**-Present day-**

The silence inside the chauffeured Mercedes was sepulchral. Andy was currently distracted texting on her iPhone and Miranda's attention was directed outside of the tinted glass, watching Manhattan blur by.

"I'm thinking of changing the curtains of our bedroom a shade of blue, what do you think?" Miranda asked keeping her eyes trained outside.

"I like the ones we have now," Andy said.

"I don't anymore. I've already scheduled a time for later today for our interior designer to send me the appropriate samples," Miranda informed her.

"Well if you already have everything planned why bother to ask my opinion?" Andy asked unable to hide the thread of annoyance in her tone.

"Because believe it or not your opinion matters, Andrea. We share the bedroom, right?"

Andy wanted to avoid initiating an argument, especially with Roy as an audience. No, for now, she decided to relent. "Whatever you like is fine by me, sweetheart," Andy finished smiling but this time she was the one to turn her attention outside, the smile fading as she fixated on the world beyond the backseat.

A few blocks later, Roy was parking outside the _Mirror_.

"Have a good afternoon," Andy said as she exits the car when it stopped, not waiting for Roy to get her door.

As Andy reached the sidewalk Miranda lowered the window and the dark glass smoothly descended to reveal her amber Versace sunglasses.

"Andrea," Miranda called for her.

Andy turned around with an open smile hoping to hear the words she hadn't had the luxury of being the recipient of in quite some time.

"Dinner is at seven tonight. Don't forget." Miranda reminded her instead. "The girls are starting to complain that we don't spend enough time with them together anymore."

"Ok I will be there, I promise." Andy said working hard to disguise the disappointment on her face. She continued to stare at Miranda and soon the window was ascending back into place, the car gliding through the busy New York traffic again. '_I love you too Miranda_' Andy found herself saying to no one in particular.

Ensconced within the privacy of the backseat of the Mercedes, Miranda let out a long breath she didn't realize she had held and dropped her head back onto the leather seat. Roy cleared his throat as if he were about to say something.

"Roy for the sake of your cellular respiration, I highly suggest you keep whatever you're about to say to yourself," Miranda said glaring at him in the slit of the rearview mirror.

"I was just going to say 'I told you so,'" Roy said looking back at her.

"I said keep it." Miranda's barely concealed threat hung in the air as she turned to stare out of the window again.

Roy had worked with the domineering icon long enough to know the difference between edging close to a dangerous line on your own versus having the guy behind you accidentally push you over it. And this time he wisely chose to back away from that line and continue to maneuver through the rush hour Manhattan streets in silence. His current survival positively depended on it.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly chapter 3**

**-Few days later-**

Andy descended the stairs from their bedroom, following the sounds of professional cutlery into the kitchen where Miranda was putting the final touches to their dinner. Joanna, their personal chef and the twin's nanny, was currently utilizing several days of sick leave, leaving Miranda to apply herself to meal preparations since Andy's cooking skills were nothing more than an insult to the culinary arts.

"Evening baby," Andy greeted and when Miranda failed to face her, a hazy swirl of conflicting emotions flashed over Andy's face outside of the Editor's view.

"Hi."

"Where are my girls?" Andy browsed through the wine chiller, extracting the cork from the selected vintage before pouring the red liquid into her waiting glass. "Care for some wine?"

"No thank you." Miranda arranged the last ingredients in the chicken Kiev she was perfecting. "The girls are out with their father, he got last minute tickets to Cirque du Soleil."

"Ok, then it's just us," Andy grinned, Miranda returned the smile politely.

"Did you bring home dessert?" Miranda asked over her shoulder, turning off the oven flushed aesthetically into the wall.

"Yes." Andy proudly held up the small plastic bag.

Miranda quickly inspected the elegant label from a renowned local bakery and declared, "Its fat."

"What is the other option?" Andy asked, sipping her wine, unknowably allowing her wife to lead her down a path of logic she should have been able to predict by now.

"Low fat? As I asked for," was the swift answer as Miranda stared at her. As usual, the look left Andy to ponder if the woman was aware of just how the intense chill in those baby blues consumed those within her vicinity.

"What is the big difference?" Andy insisted.

"A heart attack from the sheer amount of indigestible fat clogged into your arteries?"

"Could you possibly point me in the direction to the fun in low-fat cheesecake, Miranda?"

Miranda took deep breaths, tension feathering along her temples and then she took the cheesecake, whirling around to store it in the fridge.

"It's fine. The girls will simply have to eat only a small slice," Miranda raised an eyebrow, "and so do you."

"Whatever you want, darling." Andy had always found her own sarcasm infinitely preferable to being on the receiving end of Miranda's.

"I got the new curtains for the bedroom."

"I couldn't help but notice that when I was upstairs. So what happened to you showing me the samples first?" Andy asked lightly, tasting her wine again.

"You said I could choose, but if you don't like it, I can change it again," Miranda said transferring the food dishes to an antique Korean dining table, a mutual purchase that stood as proof of their once infallible balance.

"Really?" Andy tried not to trip over her surprise. "Let's change then, I really don't like them that much, the old ones complimented both of our tastes better."

"I will give you ample time to get used to the idea, and then we will reconsider." Miranda said moving to the sink without uttering another word and for Andy that answer distinctly means, 'The curtains will stay.'

xxxxxxx

**-2 or 3 years ago and 4 months later-**

"Roy."

"Yes Miranda," Roy answered, keeping his attention focused on the traffic.

"I'm going to ask her to marry me tonight." The blank slate of Miranda's eyes attested to the purity of her intent, which in turn caused Roy to whip his head around so fast that he almost swerved the car off the road.

"You what?" Roy yelled. "Miranda you can't be serious."

"There's simply no reason to raise your voice, Roy. There's only five feet of God-forsaken space separating us," Miranda flicked a disheveled silver lock away from her eyes, pressing painted lips together.

"It's been said that marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. I suppose I empathize with Oscar Wilde now more than ever." She sniffed in distaste. "Has it honestly taken me this long to comprehend that? And I'm dead serious, Roy. The practicalities of the situation hardly outweigh its significance."

She wanted a future with Andrea. A sense of urgency propelled her unlike any previous relationships in her lackluster romantic history. It would be intriguing to finally be seen as a woman in love and not just the cold dictator of Runway. She had to do this. The reason for her decision had come easy once she learned to accept her emotions and surprisingly she had found herself strengthened by those emotions. Any opposing opinion could go to hell in last season's Gucci tote soaked in gasoline. No one questioned Miranda Priestly. Accepting emotion gave her power beyond what even the best tabloid scrutiny could fade. Her daughters were happy, Andrea didn't exist in the world of the false elite, and more importantly, her lover didn't harbor any undisclosed secrets. This she knew even prior to laying eyes on Andrea's background file.

Sharing matters of the heart was still a strange, alien terrain for her. It felt as if she were often speaking outside of herself when it came to Andrea, her serene authority bowing to the mysteries in her heart. Miranda turned her attention back to the window, her breath fogging the glass lightly when she spoke again.

"You're well aware of the fact that people in our line of work have a mortality rate that would put insurance companies to shame. So it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that I want to be with someone that doesn't always worry if I will come home alive after a mission, a shred of normality in all of this chaos. Commitment, monogamy, union- label it what you want, she is practically living with us already. I simply want to make it official to the two people that count. Her and I."

"Yes Miranda, marry her. Disney fairytales do come true sometimes, ya know. You need only look to the show The Bachelorette as proof." Roy said sarcastically, parking the car outside of the Elias-Clarke building. Miranda had the back door opened faster than he could step out. "I hope you know what you are doing," he called over his shoulder.

"You know I only do things I'm one hundred percent confident about it, Roy. And if you know me well enough you'll have already realized that the pieces have already been set into motion." She finished, slamming the car door behind her, unwilling to grant the man a chance to reply.

xxxxxxx

"So why did you come back alone this time Andy?" the therapist asked.

"Ask me tomorrow. Maybe I will have the answer then." Andy laughed nervously. "I love her, without a doubt, with all my heart and soul," Andy said smiling, but her face shifted a second later, "but sometimes she pisses me off."

xxxxxxx

**-2 or 3 years ago and 1 day later-**

Andy plunged herself into the wet sheathe between Miranda's lush thighs, enjoying the sheer sensation of soaring in and out of the woman dancing erotically on the tips of her fingers. Miranda's hips surged up, smooth legs wrapping around Andy like twirling vines and Andy struggled not to burst into flames when their eyes met each other.

"Andrea…darling." One elegant brow rose. "You unravel me."

No one would ever suspect that the illustrious Editor-in-Chief was a brilliant bottom on her best of nights, and the notion got the Editor off like a hedonistic cocktail, made her pussy slippery as a satin camisole solely for Andy's gratification. Everything about the woman mesmerized her young lover, even the things she considered ordinary.

Miranda's provocative words and desire were like music and wine a perfect pairing to Andy's senses. "Jesus Miranda..."

Andy lowered her head, cutting off the rest of her own whispered reply, flicking her tongue all over the drenched landscape of Miranda´s supple labia. The younger woman couldn't describe the sense of pleasure cascading between her own thighs as she feasted as if she was starving. Warm. Soft. Slick with need. The dizzying motion of Andy's tongue chased across hungry skin, careful not to address the Editor's tender clit that stood at attention just yet. The woman pinned beneath her could only moan, completely incapable of seizing onto the delicious pattern of Andy's tongue.

'Such a fetching tongue,' Miranda thought, utterly powerless to its blistering, erratic journey, helpless to plot its course. It was maddening and desirable, Miranda felt as if her innermost feelings were scrawled across her naked flesh for all to witness as she gave herself entirely over to Andrea's skilled mouth.

Then again, Andrea had always excelled in all of the tasks she had given her.

Miranda fisted waves of Andy's soft chocolate hair between her trembling fingers, crushing the girl to the spot where she needed her the most, filling herself to the brim with her lover. And as if on cue Andy's rhythm increased, causing Miranda's breath to piston in and out, her silky moans racing toward a sharp crescendo. Miranda´s slick walls tightened like a coil around the brunette as Andy paused to delicately tuck in her thumb and ease her slender fist into the wet rapture. The influent Editor snapped, thighs drifting impossibly wide, one pale leg dangling over the edge of the bed, body a willing slave to pleasure and sensation.

She would've given anything to have it. Begged for it if Andrea found it necessary.

When Andy started to fuck her clit, drawing her tongue over the sensitive bud like an artist splattering color on a canvas, Miranda slithered her hips like a cobra, riding the treasured hand greedily toward her climax.

"God," she cried hoarsely. "God!"

In a matter of liquid seconds Miranda´s body stiffened, arching toward heaven, a roar blazing up her throat ripped the atmosphere in two, provoking all nocturne entities within range to bow down in utter silence to her cries. As her body went stiff as an electric wire, she became fully aware of her hot core rippling around her lover's full fist and she instantly came again like a waterfall, crashing all over Andy´s mouth and fingers.

This was desirable madness. It was all Miranda would ever crave.

Moments, heartbeats later, Andy's glossy lips were lazily gliding back up Miranda's heaving body, bumping over the gentle indentation of ribs, nipping at silken heat, skimming higher to locate the Editor's mouth with her own, their kiss desperately full of tenderness. It was a sweet counterpoint to the heat. Andy boldly fed Miranda's passion to her, using her tongue to push the heady liqueur of sex back to its owner even as she withdrew herself from Miranda's recesses in a slick whisper.

The seductive glow of a forest of candles flickered beyond the canopy bed they lied in. Soft light and shadows streamed across their faces and hands, a storm of radiant patterns reflecting along naked skin. Andy's natural knack for romanticism bloomed at the most unexpected of times, an unfamiliar, but welcomed facet to Miranda's life to much of her surprise. Scattered along shadowed surfaces all over their private Caribbean cabin, infinite slivers of light trembled in the ocean breeze seeping through the open windows, bathing the two panting women in a sea of creamy hues.

Andy held herself up like a feline on all fours, admiring the sheen of perspiration glimmering across the enchanting body beneath her. "Hello."

"Hello Mrs. Priestly," Miranda purred back and the sound rushed down Andy's spine like quicksilver.

Andy leaned in to claim her mouth again. "I..." She quickly captured Miranda's elegant jaw in a kiss, "have a…" full lips slowly raked down the slope of a vulnerable throat, "...present for you," she said between kisses.

"As if what just occurred wasn't my birthday, Christmas and New Year's wrapped into one. Honestly, darling what more could I possibly want?" Miranda asked roving her manicured fingertips along Andy's back, causing the younger woman to shiver, body happily succumbing to its master's touch.

"Do you remember the first time you sent me flowers?" Andy asked touching Miranda's cheek softly.

"I gave you a Phalaenopsis orchid." Miranda instantly recalled and pushed a ribbon of hair from Andy's face. "I adore orchids. They are most exotic, mystified and beautiful..." She tapered off watching as Andy observed her with nothing less than tender fascination.

"Like you," Andy finished her sentence. "Exotic. Mystified. Beautiful. And let me dare add, exquisitely complex. A combination of adjectives I find irresistible. Which is why I did something that will have you symbolized on me forever."

Andy smiled at the curious gleam in the Editor's eyes and turned to her side, gathering her dark waves of hair into a pony tail so she could reveal what she did.

"Oh god." Miranda reached out, her fingertips tracing the smooth, inked lines of a petite orchid tattooed on the nape of Andy's slender neck. Miranda had always been of the mindset that tattoos were an overly-done bow to counterculture. On Andrea it was sensual and eternal. "When did you do this?"

"Today, when you had to take care of work responsibilities during our honeymoon," Andy raised her eyebrow, "and I had nothing to do on this island for three hours."

Miranda only looked at her and sighed. "My apologies, it was entirely beyond my control."

"Consider it forgotten. We all have situations that we can't avoid at times." Andy raised her hair so Miranda could look again. "So, do you like it?"

"Depending on the situation orchids can be lethal as they are beautiful..." Miranda whispered behind her, absently caressing the tattoo again.

Andy felt the hairs on the back of her neck stir, unable to interpret the meaning behind those enigmatic words. Miranda simply kissed her neck, not giving her time to inquire and soon any response was frozen on Andy's tongue, a distant question with no forthcoming answer.

"And I love it," Miranda finally answered, turning Andy to face her again. Her eyes suddenly burned with the delicate weight of tears when Andy stared back at her in awe. The brunette's eyes were glowing in the candlelight, irises dark as crushed blackberries. "I love you," Miranda breathed, guiding their lips into passionate exploration again.

"I love you too, my wife." Were Andy´s last words before Miranda rolled over on top of her.

They were both aware of the fact that love was as tender as an orchid, easily damaged. So there's a lot that's left unspoken for the moment. What they hope and fear. What they hope and want. And what they will do to make sure that they get it. And so it turned out that they both were falling with no end in sight, knowing that this was the right thing to do. Because sometimes when you start falling, the fall becomes all you know, all you will ever know. Finding the love of their lives softened all other blows.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly - Chapter 4**

**-Present Day-**

Miranda was on their bed meticulously reviewing the Book when Andy removed her robe and slipped between the covers. Andy smacked her pillow, shaking the entire bed in the process. After the mini-earthquake subsided, Miranda peered at her over the rim of her Dolce & Gabbana reading glasses, the blank look clearly asking, '_Do you have to do that every night?_'

"Sorry," Andy said, smacking the pillow one more time before lying down, turning her back to Miranda and her army of Post-It notes.

Andy swallowed hard against her pillow, aching for the time when as soon as they fell into the decadent bed their bodies automatically sought each other like magnets. Now it felt as if the Grand Canyon divided them in bed, a close yet distant force of nature.

xxxxxxx

"So Miranda, here we are again," the therapist said a little anxiously.

"I can clearly see that." The words were clipped, chilled as ice, as she tried to find somewhere for her gaze to land other than the hideous curtains.

"Tell me what bothers you the most about Andy."

Miranda took a deep breath, hunting for the proper answer. "She is by far the most lovable person I ever met, and to that affect I love her with my entire being," Miranda smiled briefly like she meant it, but her face instantly morphed into hardness again, "but sometimes she annoys me beyond limits."

xxxxxxx

"That spaghetti smells awesome," Andy said placing the napkin in her lap. "I feel sorry Joanna is sick, but it's always a pleasure when you cook for us." Andy glanced down at her plate. However she didn't seem as enthused as she was letting on.

"It's not that fancy," Miranda replied, sipping her wine.

"Can we go eat in the TV room please? It's the last episode of Ugly Betty," Cassidy said, clearly hoping for a 'yes'.

"Yes", "No", Andy and Miranda answered in unison and then their eyes rapidly shot into each other.

"Yes darling," Andy said nodding at Cassidy, "but don't make it a habit, ok?" Andy glanced back at Miranda whom remained silent. Both twins looked over to their mother for final confirmation and when Miranda nodded yes, they raced from the table with their plates, leaving Miranda and Andy alone with their thoughts.

In the ensuing silence they regarded each other again. Words dangled on the tips of their tongues, but even a trivial thing such as asking about their day, a once shared routine during dinner, now seemed an insurmountable feat. The two women stared across the dining table at each other for several heartbeats, judging each other's resolve.

They were nothing more than a couple of strangers having dinner and both were frozen by the fact that everything was simultaneously so impenetrable and transparent within that truth. _Cowards._ It was Andy that turned her attention away breaking the stare first and Miranda looked at her plate and started to eat. The sound of cutlery on bone china and the rustle of a newspaper filled the silence for several, thick moments.

"Darling can you pass the cheese please?" Andy asked from behind a copy of the_ Mirror_ as she read over her recent article.

"It's just in the middle of the table."

"The middle of the table?" Andy asked, perplexed.

"Yes, three point five feet." Miranda flashed a smile. "The same distance between you and me."

"Of course it is." Andy bit her lip and retrieved the cheese pot. She sat back and without even glancing down at her plate she started to pour a mountain of cheese on it. Unaware that Miranda was carefully scrutinizing her the entire time, she filled her fork and took the first bite.

Andy looked over at Miranda with her mouth full of noodles. Miranda dared her to say something but nothing came after several silent moments. Andy swallowed the food and her mind rushed back to the twins. Ugly Betty on a Wednesday? The little devils had just found the perfect excuse to evacuate the table. Andy added even more cheese on her food in an effort to camouflage the real taste.

"You shouldn't have that amount of cheese," Miranda pointed out, taking delicate sips of her wine, azure eyes considering Andy over the top of the glass. "It's not good for your health."

"Eat well, exercise obsessively, die anyway," Andy winked at her. "Besides I will already have a heart attack from yesterday's cheesecake as it is." Andy laughed as Miranda pursed her lips.

After dinner they split ways. Miranda moved to her study to work and Andy did the same in her own office while the twins finished their homework. Both girls were already sound asleep in their respective bedrooms when Miranda was done editing the Book for the night.

Miranda entered Caroline's bedroom to make her usual pledge when she had to go out to work.

"I promise to come back safe sweetheart," she said to her sleeping child, pressing a kiss to her soft forehead.

When she stepped out of Caroline's room she was embarrassingly startled to find Andy walking out of Cassidy's room with Patricia's large form close at her heels.

"Jesus you scared me," Miranda said holding her chest.

"I was just kissing her goodnight." Andy looked over Miranda, who was overly dressed in black for an evening at home. "Are you going out?"

"Yes." Miranda tied one of her signature Hermes scarves around her neck. "There is a fiasco in the art department and we are losing thousands by the hour because of someone's apparent and considerable incompetence. I have to personally go in and assess the damage. Nigel is on an overnight shoot and the mere mention of Emily, new or old, or anyone else for that matter is a laughable thought of titanic proportions. Don't wait up." The Editor pressed a fleeting kiss to Andy´s cheek as she breezed downstairs and out the front door.

Twenty minutes later the door bell rang and Andy rushed to get the door.

"I'm not paid to be a babysitter Andy," Lily announced as soon as she stepped into the front hallway.

"I understand that Lily, but you know I can't send anyone else in my place. Miranda is not here and I can't leave the girls alone, Joanna is out on sick leave."

"What if they wake up? What am I going to tell them? And what about that huge thing?" Like asked pointed to Patricia that yawned lying on the floor next to Andy.

"They will not, they sleep like babies. And Patricia is a perfect lady, right baby?" Andy bent down to scratch the big, fluffy head, rewarding the sweet disposition. "If Miranda comes back sooner just tell her that I had an unavoidable emergency with tomorrow´s print and I had to get to the _Mirror_." Andy gave the instructions with proficiency and then held out her hand. "Where is my profile?"

"Here," Lily handed her the small screen with the necessary details uploaded to its memory. "The target is Dmitri Potrovsky."

"I will be back as soon as I finish this." Andy said tucking the device into a leather duffle bag and grabbing her keys on her way out.

xxxxxxx

"Do you have the target marked?" Miranda asked calmly, taking position on the dark rooftop across the busy street. She had already loaded her Remington 700 sniper rifle and was twisting the silencer onto the barrel, a practice that she could practically perform in her sleep by now.

"Negative. The target will only be revealed when he steps out of the embassy and into the open," Roy informed her through her earpiece.

Miranda tried to keep her annoyance under control. "You are aware of the fact that I only have ten minutes before the guards change shifts?"

"That's an affirmative. If that happens we do as we always do and deal. This is the only chance we have to remove the target."

A familiar mood of expectation fell over her as she waited. A collective sense of impatience, exhilaration and deadly calmness. The people across the street at ground level moved in and out of the embassy entrance like ants, each person crawling along their individual fates in life.

And tonight one of them was about to become a fatal statistic.

Finally the silence lifted as she spotted three men and a woman step outside beyond the front doors surrounded by a pack of personal, armed bodyguards. Miranda distastefully noticed that the bodyguards were all dressed in the same ill-fitting suits of the Gap variety.

"The target is out Miranda," Roy informed her over the secure line.

"Who is it?" She aimed her Remington with ease at the center of the group. "Two minutes and counting, Roy."

The small group of people were walking toward a chauffeured limo and Miranda held no doubt in her mind that the vehicle was more than likely one-way resistant bulletproof.

"Who is it? I will lose the aim."

"I don't know yet, hold the position," Roy said and Miranda dropped her gaze to her illuminated watch. 1:10 minutes left.

"Forget it. I will shoot all three."

"No, you can't, you have to take out the correct target."

Miranda looked at the time again. 58 seconds left.

"It's the woman," Roy's voice excitedly sailed into her ear a beat later. "The target is the woman."

Miranda only shifted her aim a fraction, altering the point, a sharp eye narrowed down the scope for only a heartbeat, before she pulled the trigger twice in quick succession.

The shots whispered out of the barrel toward their destiny. The first shot caught the woman directly in the heart as she smiled. But it was the second one that was responsible for blowing a hole through her pretty head. Someone screamed loudly. The two private bodyguards burst urgently into action, frantically scanning the immediate area when the woman's body crumpled to the ground like a forgettable memory.

Miranda dissembled the scope and rifle in twenty seconds flat, shoving her weapon into a satchel designed to carry the weight. She took the stairs from the roof exit two at a time, racing so fast and so hard that she barely noticed the two guards approaching in her direction. Despite the fact that her operational history involved favoring misdirection and distance over close confrontation, she found herself more than willing to reverse the trend tonight. She hid silently in the darkness and watched the floor. When they neared her, their shadows falling across the lit hallway, she moved away from her corner silent and fast, applying force to the delicate pressure points in their necks, causing them to collapse into an unmoving heap at her feet within seconds.

"Sweet dreams." She moved discreetly out of the back of the building, evading the eyes of mounted security cameras along the way. Seconds later she was slinging herself into the welcoming backseat of the waiting vehicle.

She blew a white lock of hair away from her forehead and sighed. "I need a vacation. Feel free to quote me on that, Roy."

Roy could only nod and laugh in agreement, as he expertly steered them away from the chaos of their own creation.

**-Somewhere else-**

"You the hooker?" The muscled guy asked roaming the metal detector over Andy's body.

"I'm a masseuse not a hooker," Andy said seriously.

"Same difference," the guy said, "he's waiting for you in the bedroom."

Andy walked down the hall and straightened her red wig before knocking on the bedroom door.

"Get in," A Russian accent instructed from behind the door.

Andy stepped into the impressive room, pleased to find the guy already positioned in his underwear lying on top of a massage table. She didn't say a word as she pulled out her massage oils, moving to work on the man´s back. She applied the oil liberally, massaging his trapezoid muscles to relaxation before moving to focus on his neck. The man started moaning under the precise pressure of Andy's skilled hands. She ignored the sounds of his pleasure, momentarily distracted with thoughts of doing the same thing on Miranda´s naked body.

Of course the result of those romantic massages were entirely different to what was about to occur in that room.

Andy was promptly brought back to reality when she felt a hard pair of hands grab her ass and squeeze. She backed up just enough to let his hands slide off of her, bending close to his ear as her fingers smoothed over the tight muscles of his shoulders and neck.

She whispered to him seductively, "You like to molest innocent and unprotected people, don't you?"

"I do, very much," he admitted, moaning softly.

"Say hello to Satan when you arrive in hell."

When comprehension raced into his body at her whispered words, he tried to extract himself from the table, thrashing around in the massage oil to get on his feet. Andy seized the opportunity, her motions nakedly strategic as she used her hands to swiftly twist his neck at an odd angle to the side, cleanly snapping his spinal cord like a dry twig. His movements instantly melted into stillness.

Andy quickly grabbed her bag, granting the room one final professional sweep with her eyes and left, giving the men outside a credible explanation about their boss falling asleep, requesting not to be disturbed. Outside she tossed her wig in a trash can, slipping into her car that was parked several blocks down the street from the hotel. Andy couldn't say that she mourned the loss of borrowing Lily's BMW on occasion. Her slim fingers relaxed on the smooth, Italian leather steering wheel in front of her. No. Not at all. She kept the silver Maserati Gran T, a surprise wedding present from Miranda, at a comfortable speed as she weaved through the streets toward the warmth and safety of her family.

The small flat screen TV embedded into the kitchen wall was turned on as usual the following morning. As they were seated at the kitchen island having breakfast together the anchors on CNN discussed two gruesome, high-profile cases. One news summary involved a notorious female drug merchant that was illegally residing in the U.S. while orchestrating a massive entrance of narcotics into the state. The drug cartel leader had been on the Drug Enforcement Administration's most-wanted list for a half decade. As a result of her death by an anonymous assassin the previous night, the shooting had effectively taken the guesswork out of the DEA's ongoing investigation to hunt her down and try her on American soil. So far, the anchors pointed out, all leads were directed at a rivaling faction with a long-standing score to settle.

Squeezed between two commercials about affordable life insurance a child molester was the disturbing topic of the second piece of news. The noted molester had been sentenced to 34 years for the consecutive rape of four children. According to a vague explanation given by local authorities, the man was apparently a fugitive from a federal prison as of forty-eight hours ago, his disappearance rapidly inciting a nationwide inter-agency pursuit. Incidentally he was found dead in his hotel suite in the early hours of the morning. No further evidence was forthcoming at this hour and by the dual looks of detachment on the CNN anchors' faces, they appeared as if they could genuinely care less about the prospect of more info ever coming to bear.

"It's always nice to know that we still have justice in this world," Andy sighed, depositing her cup into the sink before turning around to give Miranda a chaste kiss.

Miranda flicked a button on the remote and the screen faded to black. "That is all we can do, have hope, and live on it." She slipped into a divinely-cut trench coat, apple-red Jimmy Choos clicking on the floor as they made their way out the front door stepping toward another habitual day.

"What time is dinner tonight? Andy asked, arming the townhome's security system.

"Seven as always" Miranda answered. Andy nodded. Roy snapped into action and the distinct halo of ivory hair disappeared behind the closed Mercedes car door.

Routine kills.

TBC…


	5. Chapter 5

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly Ch. 5**

**-Less than 2 or 3 years ago-**

In Andy's office, on the second floor of the townhome, Saturday morning sun filtered through the large windows, spilling over the dark hardwood floors and up the legs of her desk. The sunlight flashed on her platinum wedding ring as she tried to fight off boredom by throwing herself into the first in a series of investigative articles concerning the war on drugs. Working under a strict deadline for the Mirror was a welcomed reprieve from her typical elicit activities.

Not that she minded a bit of normalcy. A certain degree of controlled stress rode the coattails of both her realities. She had adapted to its presence, using it to assure her successes and minimize loss.

As a result Andy thrived on the rush of things just as much as she relished moments of tranquility. Somewhere a precarious balance had been struck, easily allowing her to meander between both extremes of her life. She was quite certain that love was to blame for making sure that the delicate balance never spun out of control. Andy gladly walked that tightrope of balance. She was fully content in the security she had in her relationship with a walking enigma who possessed several distinct titles: Fashion God. Mother. Publishing tycoon.

Her wife of nearly a month. Would she ever get used to that?

Andy shook her head, a smile licking at the corner of her lips. No, most likely not. When it came to a certain unpredictable woman that could flick her wrist and have the world bow at her Prada-clad feet, there were countless things that took some getting use to.

Their hunger for each other had increased as days multiplied into weeks, and then one day Andy had looked around and found herself warmly merged into a family unit. It was endearing and a consistent test of finding what worked versus what didn't. And it was all Andy could ever hope for. It hadn't taken her heart long to realize that Miranda and her daughters were the start and end on the list of things she would voluntarily kill and die for. And to that effect she had begun looking forward to spending her free weekends with her family instead of drowning herself in her work duties and waking up in the occasional random bed to ease her loneliness.

The soft sounds of a TV from a floor beneath her reached her perceptive ears as she paused to study her research notes. For once the twins weren't attending any social engagements with friends for the weekend and they were already restless mere hours after breakfast. Yesterday Miranda had taken a red-eye flight to Miami for an urgent photo shoot. The Editor-in-Chief had left with a promise to come home Sunday morning so they could spend the rest of the weekend together.

Miranda's commitment to her personal life would certainly be a bit of surprise in the high-class social circles the Editor moved in, but in Andy's opinion it was simply another diverse facet of the enigmatic woman she loved. In truth, it would take her years to merely scratch the surface of what motivated her eccentric wife. Andy had decided long ago that she was fine with that. More than her power and intellect, Miranda's complexity is what made Andy drunk with attraction.

This Sunday was especially significant as it marked their anniversary. Andy hoped for an intimate evening. She had always known that pleasure was often the motivation of the human race, but a certain fashion deity caused her world to lighten. Miranda had shown her a shade of pleasure only acquired through absolute devotion. Because apparently when she wasn't looking, the Editor had shocked the media and fallen helplessly in love with her former assistant. With a militia of colleagues in distinct positions of power and influence, she had been fiercely prepared to lay claim to that love publicly. Only a few foolish people had suffered the blade of her will, and their absence wasn't particularly noticed.

Her infamous wife inspired Andy to play within the rich dimensions of romance. From the fateful night they had reunited and tasted the depths of each other's mouths, Andy automatically knew that the Editor was as essential to her as air and water. She smirked at the black and white photo of her and Miranda on their honeymoon at the corner of her desk. Without thinking she wrote their initials and drew a heart around them. It was sweet. It was horribly ridiculous. Plato was right: at the touch of love, everyone did indeed become a poet.

No longer able to concentrate on her work any longer, Andy left her office and headed downstairs to the entertainment room, knocking before stepping inside.

"Hey squirts," she greeted the girls, flopping between them on the couch.

"Hi Andy," both twins replied together in such tedious tones Andy could swear that they were watching a funeral procession instead of their favorite TV show.

"I have an idea," Andy started as their attention remained fixed on the flat screen mounted on the wall. "How about we go grab an early lunch and then I will take you to a place that's so cool you'll have bragging rights at Dalton for days?"

The twins finally looked at her with expectation shinning in their clear blue eyes. Andy was still amazed at how the twins and Miranda´s eyes could have the same sparkling glow whenever they are excited.

"Awesome!" And then two excited, redhead balls of energy jumped into Andy's lap.

Andy drove them to Coney Island for an afternoon of kart racing after a guilty indulgence of a happy meal lunch courtesy of McDonald's. God forbid if Miranda ever found out that her daughters had broken their austere diet to consume a meal consisting of nothing more than high fat and sugar content.

Outside of the kart track Andy fitted the girls in all of the safety equipment available to them since she wasn't ready to suffer through a discussion with Miranda if either of the twins got even a scratch while under her supervision. She loved the fact that Miranda was a mother hen when it came to her children, but she had been on the receiving end of that protection one too many times before when the twins had caught her up in one of their playful exploits. When it came to the Priestly women Andy knew she never stood a chance, she could hardly resist that trio of blue eyes for the world.

Caroline Priestly refused to pout. Pouting was a ridiculous act done by five year olds. "So why aren't you coming with us this time around, Andy?" Caroline readjusted her helmet strap beneath her chin. She didn't have to pout, but surely there was no harm in discretely whining.

"No baby, this time it's only for children, it wouldn't be fair if I were racing with you," Andy explained. She had just finished her mutual lap with the twins in the general race.

"C'mon Carol," Cassidy called to her sister, excited to get into her own go-kart.

Andy walked with the girls to the row of colorful karts lined up on the asphalt track and fastened their seat belts securely, giving them both a good luck kiss. She got into position close to the race circuit so that she could cheer for the girls and in case of an emergency she could reach them faster. Even though it wasn't the first time she had taken the twins to a kart race Andy still got a bit apprehensive when the girls were operating the fast mini cars.

The large stoplight hanging over the starting line slowly blinked from red to yellow, indicating that the race was about to start. All ten karts were in position, gleaming in various candy colors under the New York sky. The deafening roar of the motors swept through the gathered crowd of parents and spectators. The checkered black and white flag was waved and it flapped crisply in the breeze as the stoplight flashed green and the karts zipped into action all at once. Small rubber tires spun firmly on the track as Caroline shot out into third place. When she accelerated into the third curve she squeezed into second place, bypassing kart 23. In the second lap she took the first position away from another racer with Cassidy right behind her edging out from the curve to take over second place.

"You go girls!" Andy's cheeks flushed as she cheered the girls on, succumbing to the proud maternal essence that the twin's presence naturally brought out of her.

The twins were alternating positions, both girls wanting to win as they looped around the track. Andy was equally excited following the race in her mind as if she were sitting behind the wheel herself.

With only one lap left kart number 12 tried to gain on Cassidy who was now leading the race by a healthy margin. The rapidly approaching kart slammed into her rear tire causing both of their karts to spin off the course. The two karts safely impacted the padded wall of tires that encircled the length of the track as Caroline moved up from her position of third and easily zoomed into victory at first place.

Andy wasted no time running over to Cassidy and the other child to ensure that they were unharmed, even while perceiving that nothing serious had occurred. Cassidy and a boy her own age were safely emerging out of the karts and were being assisted by a member of the kart staff.

Andy maneuvered between the small group and pulled Cassidy into a swift hug. "Baby, are you fine?"

"I'm fine Andy." Cassidy's grin nearly split her face as she removed her helmet, blowing a ginger lock of hair away from her eyes. "My first car accident! That's like a month of bragging rights." Cassidy's effortless charm came directly from Miranda and Andy couldn't resist smiling at her apparent excitement.

"Are you ok?" Andy asked the boy that instantly smirked up at her, hazel eyes peeking through a fringe of blonde curls.

"Yes mam. I'm sorry, it was my fault, I shouldn't have forced the passing," he said slapping the dust from his jeans.

Before Andy could respond a man with eyes the same distinctive shade of the boy's standing before her, broke through the crowd.

"Are you blind girl?" His eyes darted directly to Cassidy, who was still in Andy´s embrace. "And people wonder why you don't see that many chicks racing pro." His voice had risen, smacking with bitter disgust.

The boy shook his head. "Dad, it was my fault."

"Shut up, Will!" In an impulsive reaction the arrogant man rapidly raised his heavy hand and it hung in the air in warning. The boy instinctively cringed, his hands raced up to protect his face, a familiar reaction to what was obviously a common treatment. Andy's eyes narrowed beyond his peripheral. "The only one at fault here is that redhead, she took you out of the race."

"Sir, you're completely overreacting." Andy deliberately put herself between Cassidy and the man, her dark eyes were trained on his hand as it provided the immediate threat. If it lowered a fraction toward the boy or Cassidy death would be the least of what would come to him. "Clearly this was an accident and they are kids. In case you've forgotten this is not an Indy 500 race, this is just for fun."

"Who asked you, Barbie?" he spat back in fury, causing Cassidy to tighten her grip around Andy's waist from behind.

A blond woman pushed through the tense circle of people and reached out, clutching the boy to her chest protectively. "John, calm down please," she told the arguing man.

The man's attention snapped to the willowy blonde, anger rising in his eyes as he watched her recoil away with his son in her arms. "Linda, this shit wouldn't be happening if you would make him toss a football around sometime instead of letting him keep his nose stuck in those damn fantasy books." He snatched the woman by the arm so hard his fingers made firm indentations into her vulnerable skin. He was beyond control, hardly aware of his public display of hostility and what his stupidity would cost him.

"Sir." Andy used her calmest, firmest tone as she moved to intercept, but a small hand wrapped itself securely around her wrist, tugging her back. She looked down into the shinning blue eyes regarding her, Cassidy wouldn't allow her to move. "It's ok baby." Andy's smile remained bright and sure as the sun, even as her innate defenses locked into place. Cassidy searched her face finding the assurance she needed in the familiar warm, brown eyes twinkling back at her and reluctantly let go of Andy's wrist with a nod.

Andy's stride was smooth; each step seeped in confidence as she moved over to the family. She slipped between the man and the woman without apology, her svelte form providing an instant barrier. Andy used the distraction of her intrusion to force the taller man back several steps with a discrete shrug of her shoulder, causing his grip to unlock from his wife. Red welts angrily marred the surface of the blonde woman's upper arm.

Andy tilted her head, eyes sliding up to clear skies as she casually said, "It's a beautiful day isn't, Johnny?" Her gaze dropped like a rain cloud on top of him. "Perhaps you should take advantage of it and take a walk to cool off, sir."

The only sign of Andy's apparent emotion resided in the stark anger burning within the depths of her eyes and even then one would have to look close to find it. Everyone else within her vicinity saw a face as cool and detached as a doctor's, a face of a serene young woman with the eternal patience of a monk.

Such a nice girl.

Years of training had sharpened her senses and refined her outward facade, effectively masking the dominance beneath the deceptive surface. As it were, looks were infinitely misleading. And Andy knew just how and when to use that fact to her advantage.

Before John could react again security personnel came into view, obviously alerted to the incident by someone sitting in the stands. The larger of the two men stepped to John's side, placing a hand in front of his chest and spoke, "Sir, I think you should forget about this incident and go home with your family."

He grinned manically. "Bitch you're lucky you have these guys here to save your sorry ass!" he warned over his shoulder.

"Trust me." Her mouth quirked into a subtle smile. "You are by far the lucky one in this equation."

And that was all it took. He made a sudden move to lunge back at her, swinging wildly toward her face. Andy remained still as a summer pond, not giving an inch, already expecting his furious attack moments before his mind decided to act on it. The security personnel swept into action and guided him out of the kart arena.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am." The small, blonde woman appeared beside Andy. She ran a frustrated hand through her hair as she watched her husband being escorted away, spitting obscenities along the way. "I keep telling John that AA won't work if he doesn't choose to show up." She nodded at him solemnly, eyes rimmed red by tears. "I want to believe there's still a good man underneath all of that."

"A good man doesn't abuse his wife and child. Force him to learn to respect his family by pressing charges," Andy instructed before turning her back to the woman to approach the twins.

An hour later Andy and the girls were leaving the go-kart track entirely entertained. Caroline proudly cradled her first place trophy under her arm. Several parking slots away from Andy´s car, the brunette felt the hairs on her neck stand on in. The air around her prickled with awareness. As soon as she locked onto the unforeseen threat, the door of a rusted pickup truck squeaked open and slammed closed. A pile of empty beer cans and liquor bottles had spilled out of the truck as John stepped out in front of them in the billowing dirt. Andy kept her eyes level with his as she placed the girls behind her back. The insightful movement exuded the necessary calmness to soothe any apprehension away from the twins for now.

"Not so brave now without those guys to protect you huh, Barbie?"

"Barbie is blonde, moron!" Caroline boldly shouted from behind Andy's leg, making John tighten his fist and flinch towards them in sheer anger.

His abrupt movement toward the twins caused rage to click into place in Andy's mind. He would regret this day. Andy would make certain of it.

Andy reached slowly into her pocket and dropped her car keys carefully into Caroline's palm. Behind the titanium tint of her Oakley sunglasses Andy's eyes were already swallowed by darkness. She was suddenly relieved her gaze was concealed from the girls. Terrifying certainly wasn't the appropriate term to describe the memories that would haunt them for months to come if they could see what lied behind Andy's silver lenses.

"Girls would you do me a big favor?" When they nodded, Andy instructed. "Go to the car and lock yourself in. Leave the doors locked until you see me again." But the twins remained glued behind her, both clutching one of her legs, clearly incapable of leaving Andy alone with the guy.

She winked at them. "It's ok squirts, I will be with you in a minute." The wreath of Andy's brilliant smile reassured them enough and they finally gave in. The twins turned as one, running toward the car further down the dusty parking lot. It wasn't until she heard the distinctive sound of a car door unlocking and closing did she return her attention to the task at hand.

"What the hell did you say to my wife?" John didn't waste any more time getting to his drunken point as he stalked closer to Andy. The stench of alcohol and stale cigarettes assaults her nostrils as he moves within her vicinity. "She wants to slap me with a bunch of fucked up charges."

"Sounds accurate enough." Andy slid her sunglasses off, stepping back just enough to guarantee her defenses. Dark eyes swiftly zeroed in on every inch of his six foot frame, scanning his body for any concealed weapons as she spoke. None.

"You should see someone to help you out before you destroy your family."

"Bitch, when did my life become your fucking business?"

His features hardened into a cruel frown an instant before he closed his hand into a fist, angling his knuckles severely toward the center of Andy's face. Andy closed her eyes, shifting to the side to allow his hand to glide past her cheek since she rather enjoyed her nose intact. His fist punched clumsily into the space that her face had occupied seconds ago. Mocha eyes slid open. Locked him in her sights. Andy's sly movement was drenched in the understanding that there was hidden potential in even the most minimal of actions in self-defense.

When she first got into the game someone once told her that power is the ability to take action. Andy had always respected that concept, but she also knew how to bide her time in the face of an imminent threat. It gave her time to assess the scene, map out the possibilities, fully save her energy for the moment when she was thirsty for it the most. To that degree John never counted on her pivoting lightly to the side, her foot driving dense and fast into his right shin. His right leg crumpled like a cracked branch. The force of the kick bashed his spine into the embrace of the truck door. Several moments later he moved like an animated puppet, trying to shake his senses clear, rising from the door in a furious daze.

"You don't want to do that, Johnny. More importantly you won't like what I will do to return the favor." Andy spoke in the smooth, guarded voice she used in the borders of her clandestine missions. "And I swear to someone's God, that if you get these new jeans dirty Webster's will have to come up with a new definition for the word 'torture'."

She knew better. Miranda loved her in those jeans.

John didn't know better though. He didn't know that she secretly lived and breathed the practice and instruction of Krav Magá. However Andy was more than willing to show him. Teaching and practicing the close combat technique made the discipline as comfortable as a pair of well-worn gloves. She inhaled, keeping her open palms in view as she sharpened her five senses and tapped effortlessly into the sixth one. The capacity designed to foresee every probable threat in her vicinity before it played out in reality.

He laughed bitterly. "Fucking idiot! In case you haven't noticed, I'm way bigger than you."

His fist dove viciously at her face again. Once more she shifted, evasive as a butterfly. Andy realized then that she had lost count of the juvenile attitudes in the adults she had encountered in her covert career, thinking they had the means to slip by her defenses. Neutralizing any lethal threat was what she was privately paid considerable sums of money to do. Her classified resume wasn't substantial and known in top espionage circles by accident.

Besides, Andy noted with dry humor, the bigger they are the harder they fall.

When his uncoordinated fist struck the air beside her head again the rest of Andy's body remained motionless as a statue. But the fingers of her right hand snapped out, blooming over his wrist.

"Here." Her fingers tightened like steel bands around his wrist bone as she bent his fist backward against the bone, brutally smashing his entire arm back into his face in the same breath. "I'm going to let you try that again."

Her stoic deposition briefly stunned him numb. Then he painfully readied himself to move again. Never mind the alcohol racing like false hope through his body, never mind the astonishing pain in a leg that was probably broken, never mind that Andy Priestly was getting tired of this little game with him.

And his face is already swollen by the time he hurls himself toward her, moving as sluggish as fog. He could attribute the alcohol in his system from failing to see Andy's arm flying out like a slice from a honed knife. She exploits the power behind his own momentum and spun him around, locking his arm behind his back. The sickening clang of flesh on rusted metal blends with the sound of kart engines and children's laughter as he was thrown against the hood of the truck.

As soon as Andy started focusing on the maximum efficiency it would take to finish him, her phone started to vibrate. She slipped the cell out of her pocket, flicked a button, and answered, "Hi baby," without even dropping her gaze to the caller-ID display. In her heightened peripheral she caught a glimpse of John's good leg rising up to kick her in the stomach. She used the blunt edge of her forearm to obliterate his remaining shin, shattering it on impact. Andy had always believed the most effective away of blocking any vertical force was to tear down its foundation.

"Hello darling," Miranda's velvety resonance oozed warmly into her ear. "How is your day going?"

"So far so great." Andy shifted as if the laws of physics didn't exist again, her hand shooting out to crush the guy's throat between her tight fist. "Yours?"

"Spectacularly dull. I just called to see how my three girls are doing today," There was quiet joy in Miranda's tone. But her attention was split between their conversation and the multicolored wires dangling from a stick of plastic explosives she deftly armed underneath a parked town car.

"We are fine, missing you like crazy." Andy flexed the tendons in her wrist and the neck in her grasp tightened in perfect compliance. With keen interest in her dark, doe eyes she watched his face turn a startling tint of purple. John's eyes bulged when his lungs started tensing up. He choked out a strangled whimper as his body jerked in agony against the truck. Andy efficiently muffled the sound, pressing the speaker portion of the cell on her shoulder.

"Shhh... I'm talking to my wife," she hissed.

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you how much I miss all of you." Miles away Miranda nonchalantly watched her targets exit the parking garage elevator. "I´m finishing my meeting sooner than I expected so I should be home later tonight. I have to go now darling."

"Can't wait. Tomorrow you're all mine. Love you."

"I am yours to keep, Mrs. Priestly, until you decide to trade me in." Miranda softly teased and disconnected the line.

Andy let her grip go slack around his neck, pocketing the slender cell. John's sweaty skin transformed from purple to red rage as he struggled for just enough air needed to make one last attack soaked in idiocy. He turned his attention to her, allowing his drunken pride to lead him down a path he wouldn't find his way out of. When he curled and swung his bloody fist out to hit her, he found himself once more compromised. Andy dropped low, she used her lean leg to divert his center of gravity, sweeping behind his calves to rip him off of his feet. His jaw cracked when he hit the asphalt. The collision split his lip open and blood spurt out like precious tree sap all over his face.

The sleek muscles of Andy's body coiled and relaxed as she smoothly knelt next to him. She balanced on the balls of her feet as she started to speak close to his bleeding ear.

"You feel powerful beating your wife and child, don't you?" She grabbed his chin so he could face her, meeting his look of contempt calmly. "Let me tell you a secret and listen closely because repeating myself is not an option. You are nothing more than a coward. A pathetic waste of skin who takes satisfaction in hitting defenseless people." She tightened the grip on his jaw to unbearable levels of pain, making his cracked lips pucker like a gold fish. "Do yourself a favor, Johnny. Have some respect for the people that still love you, before it's too late."

But true to his stupidity, he tried to make a final move, hand jerking out to slap her. It was worse than a shame. Harsh and devastating, the edge of Andy's palm slammed into his vulnerable temple. His head collided hard with the ground and he fainted before his senses could even register the blow.

Andy looked down. "Damn it." She was tempted to kick in his ribs. "You made me mess up my jeans, you asshole," Andy seethed at the unmoving body on the ground. She scooped up her sunglasses that were discarded on the roof of a sedan and made her way over to her own vehicle.

Andy calmly tapped the window of the Maserati and Caroline disengaged the locks so Andy could slide into the driver´s seat.

Cassidy's eyes shone with unshed tears. "Are you ok?" She had always been the more sensitive of the twins.

"Yes sweetheart I'm fine. Mr. Johnny and I were just working out our differences." As she comforted Cassidy, Andy used her voice to soothe now. All signs of the deadly threat within her tone from earlier were sufficiently erased.

"We were worried he could´ve hurt you," The tears started to fall spontaneously now, splashing down on soft, pale cheeks. "And we couldn't do anything to help."

"Shh baby," Andy cooed in Cassidy's ear gathering her close to her side. The twins' apparent insecurities already had realistic roots in their relationships with their part-time father which was only worsened by Stephen's total disappearance after the divorce.

"I'm here to stay you guys." And as soon Andy said it she knew the only way she would possibly break that promise is if her life were taken.

"Besides the fun isn't over yet." She kissed Cassidy's head and motioned for the girls to buckle up. "How does dinner and then a movie sound?" Andy suggested, turning the key in the ignition and backing out in a careful arc. "Your mom just called, she will come home later tonight, so let's shop for a DVD that we can all watch together later, ok?"

"Ok!" both twins said in unison, their voices lighter. Andy knew that in the case of the Priestly women, resilience should never be underestimated.

"And let's not worry your mom about our little expedition to Mickey D's and my chit-chat with Johnny, ok?" Andy said trying to strike a deal with the girls.

"Ok," they agreed again. The twins were already strategizing their next venture into the forbidden world of fast-food indulgences.

TBC…


	6. Chapter 6

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly**

**Chapter 6**

**-Less than 2 or 3 years ago-**

Sunday night they had the house to themselves. They arrived home from dinner at nine. By 9:10 they were already naked and fizzing with lust. Miranda´s thumb is still dangerously traveling the sensitive area around Andy's swollen clit. What could she say? It was all Andrea's fault. The sweet fox always brought out the sadist in her. Her indigo eyes are hypnotized by her wife´s face as the brunette rides the slick waves of her orgasm. And right there, that delicious, precious spot in which her fingers are pounding into, this spot is where her young wife unknowably possessed her. Right now she's unable to verbalize her belief that without Andrea's presence the sun won't rise. Perhaps the moon would cease to rule the tides. Andrea owned her. Miranda bit her lip, how plebian of her.

Engulfed in the silky lava between Andrea's thighs, Miranda watches in fascination as the brunette straddling her lap attempts to slide her eyes open. Amaretto eyes flicker open. Long lashes flutter. Her sweet woman was silently begging to see the vision in front of her.

"No." Miranda softly commands and flicks her fingers like a well-oiled whip. Andrea's silken groan crashes through the townhouse. And a second later the brunette's eyelids melt close again.

Miranda knew that one of the best things she could offer people was her mind. For that reason alone she's stunned that her editorial intellect is unable to describe the flash of feelings burning through her at this moment.

There's a soft, everlasting whimper emitting from Andrea's feathery-soft lips now. Miranda soaks herself in sympathy. She decides that she would willingly drown in the flood of wetness tonight if she could feast on this girl for the rest of her life. Surely without Andrea's presence she would slowly, excruciatingly starve.

Miranda continues to study Andrea's angelical face like a map, not allowing her a moment's escape. Dark eyes remain close as the brunette softly pants, "God" breasts heaving, "yes." Then she proceeds to reach down to draw Miranda's fingers from her core in one liquid slide. Miranda finds herself in an active state of arousal as Andrea lures her glistening fingers into her mouth. Andrea's eyes slowly crack open to mahogany slits and in the next instant she is devouring each finger with hungry loops of her tongue.

Mad, Miranda logically concludes. She would most certainly go mad before this night was over. The tip of Andy's wet tongue and then the full, sweet length of it glides sensually between the Editor's elegant fingers, seizing every drop of her own essence. The pressure of the licks echoes in Miranda's center unmercifully.

A single, undignified word whispers into Miranda's mind, "Fuck."

Andy's tongue acrobatics were about to make Miranda explode into orgasm, her astute mind completely forgetting her body had an orgasm not even a half hour ago. And when her young wife tightens her lean legs around her waist, a passionate growl escapes Miranda's mouth. Apparently, Miranda notes through her sensual haze, I'm as much a masochist as I am a sadist. A second, sharp gush of arousal shoots between the Editor's thighs when Andrea fully looks at her. Miranda felt her heart swiftly rupture and mend itself together again as her eyes soak up the girl's sultry beauty.

Andrea swallows the quiet scream rushing up Miranda's throat with a kiss, bites her earlobe, and then whispers, "Happy one month anniversary, my love."

Miranda leans back, balancing Andrea in her naked lap between four steps on the second floor staircase. Her eyes take a trip over Andy's creamy, teeth-imprinted shoulder. In their haste to get at each other there was now a chaotic trail of expensive fabric and the occasional stiletto. The passionate breadcrumbs originated on the first floor moves to the second and impatiently fans to all points in between. A tornado of lingerie and couture dangle across a random banister or step, dotting their heated ascent.

And it was all Andrea's fault. Andrea and that damn La Perla garter belt playing peek-a-boo with her through the slit of her wife's Versace mini. The sexy piece of nothing had Miranda salivating like a dog the moment she glimpsed it halfway through their dessert course. By the time they had made it back to the townhouse the privacy divider in the Mercedes had steamed up like a sauna. It was well on its way to cracking after the bottom of Andrea's heel repeatedly stabbed the glass when Miranda held her down to lick and suck the orchid tattoo adorning her neck. She had lazily stroked the lace garter as she devoured Andy during the entire ride. He didn't know it yet, but Roy was in for a spectacular upgrade to his vacation package. Of course he would only get to exercise that privilege when she deemed it appropriate for him to do so.

"Perhaps next time we'll actually make it to our bed," Miranda moves in to purr against her wife's collarbone. She then nips the skin there as she set about lovingly spanking Andy's lush ass. First laying sweet fury on the left cheek. "Fitting punishment don't you think..?" Then blissfully punishing the right. "For manipulating me into offering up fashion as a sacrificial lamb tonight."

Andrea hangs her forehead on the Editor's shoulder and quietly groans as she gets spanked within an inch of orgasm before Miranda finally relents to let the burn cool. Andrea's ass felt tender and owned.

Andy eventually stirs out of her pleasurable fog, licks her swollen lips, and stares at her wife in awe. The young woman's eyes hold passion and the secrets of the universe within their dark depths. "In case you ever wonder, my love is added up. Never subtracted..." Andy kisses Miranda's aristocratic nose. "...and being with you divided."

"You are remarkably exquisite, Andrea."

When Andrea's satisfied smile turns feral, Miranda instantly decides they would have another go. Andrea pounces on her, answering that unspoken request. Miranda soon found herself gasping into another satiny kiss as she loses herself in Andrea's scent and the slick heaven that was her tongue. Sprawled across the hard steps, and too far gone on each other to care, their sweaty limbs entwine.

The sun won't rise. The moon would cease to rule the tides. Mad.

Miranda cradles her wife in her lap as they dive into passion again. Their hearts beat together, swift as the beat of tribal drums. As anniversaries went it would be hard to rival, but the fun lied in the effort expended to surpass the goal.

XXXXXXX

**-Present day-**

Miranda slips into her chosen foot candy for the evening: an ebony pair of snake skin, Christian Louboutin with a deep heel. The five inch beauties fiercely compliment her custom-made, black Lagerfeld dress. The dress flatters her figure. The shoes simply provoke. It was the perfect combination for tonight's annual Runway Benefit. Harry Winston diamonds drip at her ears and wrists. She was dressed to kill, literally, possibly, but more than anything she looked every much the part of a fashion martyr and prolific Editor-in-Chief. Tonight she would strengthen her important industry connections and by proxy maintain an iron grip on her iconic flagship. And she would do it all before the stroke of nine.

Roy would be arriving with the car soon and Andy was still lost within the infinite rows of clothes in their walk-in closet. Andy had been carefully debating what dress to wear for a half hour. She shifts, tapping her fingertips on a lace-clad hip and flicks a little, red Ralph Lauren number to the side. Andy had no problem admitting that she was now a slave to fashion. Since she became Mrs. Priestly clothes and accessories were thrown her way on a consistent basis.

Versace. Dior. Christian Siriano. Both famous and promising designers showered her affectionately with their labels. And what she didn't keep, which was plenty, she auctioned off anonymously through her favorite charity organizations, funneling the prestige of fashion into needy local and national outreach programs. Andy had become a firm believer that fashion could be pretty and socially functional. One need only look. So Andy and Miranda's private team of Ivy League lawyers had looked and emerged triumphantly with a contract of legal discreetness that was air tight and efficient. As long as the price tag on a Louis Vuitton bag equated two month's rent for the majority of lower class, and now middle class, families Andy would have nothing less than the best procedure in place for the benefactors of her quiet philanthropy.

Andy frowns. Even then, she didn't think she would ever get used to the occasional delivery of every new item, each piece more delicious than the last. From coast to coast and often from the distant shores of international fashion houses, designers practically tripped over themselves to see their creations draped on her striking body. Each believing an in with the young Mrs. Priestly was an in with her affluent spouse. And one caress from Miranda's Midas touch could effortlessly propel any career into the stratosphere.

"Andrea, Roy will be here in less than thirty minutes," Miranda reminds her, before clicking softly out of their bedroom.

"I know Miranda. I'm almost done, just have to choose the dress," Andy said, padding into the bedroom dressed only in black Victoria´s Secret lingerie. She had hoped to grab a look at Miranda's attire for the evening as inspiration, but she found herself stepping into their empty master suite instead.

She walks back into the closet unable to stop the unpleasant thoughts from rising to the surface of her awareness. Miranda was always the one to choose the right dress for her on important occasions before. Andy had been adamantly against this flourish of attention previously, but she had soon become weak to her wife's insistence on using her professional skills to her benefit. Besides, it really hadn't taken Miranda long to become a pro at wearing her down.

"Darling, it would simply be illogical for me not to spoil you with the full extent of my talent and expertise," Miranda had announced, after pinning Andrea passionately on their bed one evening before a Runway function. Her brow arched. "And the sooner you give into this indisputable fact the sooner I'll let you come."

Of course holding a mirror up to the past wasn't the only way for her to pinpoint when the thoughtful gesture had disappeared. She could simply go directly to the source. Andy snorts with amusement. If only that option weren't ten times harder than choosing a dress.

Andy finally decides on the turquoise Alexandre Herchcovitch´s that Miranda had surprised her with one day. Months ago the Editor had left the dress in a garment bag on their bed for Andy to discover when she stepped out of the shower. There were no bows or cheerful wrapping paper. The only adornment was the distinctive handwriting dappled across a square of cream linen from Miranda's personal stationary:

_Lucky dress._

_With love,_

_M._

She glances at the digital clock on the huge plasma TV. She only had ten more minutes before Roy arrives and she didn't wish to strike up an unnecessary debate with Miranda, especially tonight of all nights. After three years of marriage Andy knew when to push her luck and when to let sleeping dragons lie.

Andy chooses the Gucci stilettos for tonight, since they hadn't blessed her feet in awhile, and starts down the stairs. When she reaches the second floor her senses immediately lock onto two distinct facts. One: Her wife's voice could still make her body do the happy. Two: Her wife was speaking to someone in fluent Spanish. And not just any Spanish. Andy expertly zeroes in on the lilting inflection. Castilian Spanish. Andy's muscles tense in confusion. Stay or go? The decision came quickly. Fleeing had never looked good on her. She quietly creeps down a few more steps as if her heels didn't exist at all. From this position she could see the occasional flash of silver hair and a glimpse of Miranda's impressive form as she glides in and out of view and speaks on her cell phone.

"Todo está listo en Madrid para la próxima semana?" Miranda asks as she gracefully paces the sitting room.

Andy's mind rapidly picks out and translates the vital words. 'Is everything ready in Madrid? Next week?' She was suddenly appreciative of the multilingual requirement that was like second nature in her clandestine profession. That little gem of a skill had saved her ass both in and out of international enemy lines on numerous occasions. Andy's mind races through the past two weeks, unable to recall Miranda ever mentioning plans to visit Spain next week. Furthermore, she wasn't aware that the Editor even knew any Spanish. She didn't know whether to be impressed or skeptical. For now she settled on intrigued.

"Muí bien," Miranda pauses and taps her chin with her finger as the dialect trickles from her coral lips. "Ella no será un problema, le aseguro," Miranda finishes, snapping the cell shut with one hand without waiting for the answer on the other end of the line.

Curious, Andy thought. She feels a twinge of guilt as she wonders about whom the woman Miranda had just said would 'not be a problem', could be. She finishes moving down the stairs and purposely allows her heels to make noise this time. Miranda gives her a half smile en route to the kitchen with Andy hot on her Christian Lous.

Miranda pours a glass of Pellegrino water, being assessed by Andy the entire time. They exchange stares but neither of them offer a word to shatter the excruciating silence. Andy opens her mouth and promptly snaps it shut. She swings open the fridge door and compulsively pours a half-glass of chilled chardonnay. She never liked to consume much before or during one of Miranda's social engagements. She preferred to be on her toes in the public eye as much as possible. But the sinking feeling in her stomach demands an anchor to keep her nerves from flying out of control.

Andy taps her wine glass as she floats in her private sea of doubt. She didn't want to indulge the insecurity because that would mean having to confront one singularly unsettling thought. She finishes the wine in one sharp swallow. For a brief and haunting moment Andrea Priestly was worried she didn't know her wife anymore at all.

If the skies outside of the Runway Benefit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art were any indication, the forecast would say it was pure luxury with a chance of blatant, self-serving rhetoric. A parade of limos as sleek as mercury, glide to the front entrance in an infinite loop. The ocean of designer labels on display were only eclipsed by the famous bodies they were draped on. Elite faces from the fashion, political and media industry arrive under a night sky lit up by paparazzi camera flashes and roaming spotlights. If you had an invite you were in for a night of power-plays and free publicity. If your name didn't make the heavily-guarded guest list you were missing out on one of the season's most premiere gatherings of power and prestige assembled under one roof.

Miranda and Andy emerge from the lush cocoon of the limo precisely at eight. As soon as their heels kiss the red carpet gasps pepper the night and in the next breath they were drowned by a swirl of reporters, voices and hundreds of camera shutters clicking like a field of crickets. Miranda's smile was luminous and exact. As the crowd bends and parts around them she places a hand to the small of Andy's back and together they step onto the stage of the world's largest theater.

They smile, wave, nod, and when Miranda 'accidentally' brushes Andy's cheek with her lips the red carpet goes into a frenzy. By now they were well versed on feeding the crowd an image that didn't exist anymore. Miranda was in the business of selling images and the return gain was never ruled out of any of her professional actions. As a reporter from E! closed in on them, Andrea smiles diligently into the swarm of lights spotting her vision. 'Ready or not,' Andy thought as the lights superimpose Miranda's noble profile against the glittering night.

**-Ten minutes ago-**

In the back of the company limo, Andy and Mirada find themselves seated on opposite sides of an immense wall of silence. They hadn't exchange anything beyond a polite word since leaving home. So far this wasn't the evening Andy envisioned. Her wife from over a year ago would never double book an event on the night that marked the date of their one month anniversary. Especially in favor of mingling with New York's most 'tedious' social elite. At some point Andy had eventually succumbed to the fate of having an important fashionable event on her calendar on a monthly basis. Granted, she had never thrived on attending one glitzy society soiree after another when she was Miranda's assistant, but she had quickly learned to get comfortable with the idea when she became Miranda's spouse. Like any brand new mission, Andy had learned to adapt to her surroundings and calculate her objectives. The posh world Miranda glided in was not so different. The players had just changed.

Andy steals a glance at the silent figure of beauty poised less than a breath away. Miranda's soft lips were pursed as she gazes out of the window. The shimmer of New York City scrolls across her pristine reflection as the limo rolls towards the heart of Manhattan. Not a hair on her head or a thread on her body dared to be out of place. Andy tore her gaze away. No, what was really out of place here was the unknown entity dangling like a guillotine above their heads. What was really out of place was the silence that intensified by enormous measures every day. And what was absolutely, fucking out of place was how Miranda used to treat her like she mattered. Like they mattered.

Andy feels the tide of doubt wash over her again, filling her lungs, robbing her of decipherable speech. She tries to recall when that insolent mouth across from her was the first thing she woke to and the last thing she tasted each night. But this only led her to recall how that mouth had stopped smiling, really smiling a smile, that was strictly reserved for her.

Andy feels her hearing start to dim.

"Andrea."

And then refocus in a flash.

"We're here." Miranda's public smile had already slammed into place. Roy opens the limo door. "Ready?"

The ferocious sound of snapping cameras and the roar of a celebrity-hungry mob floods the backseat, drowning Andy in the riptide. Ready or not.

Inside of the Met's palatial halls Miranda and Andy play the power couple to award-winning precision. They sweep into the elegant sea of black and white tuxes and lavish gowns and leave admirers and dissenters embarrassingly intrigued in their wake. And like anyone that was at the top of their game, the illusion was swallowed eagerly. No one knew. How would they? Miranda Priestly knew the difference between exposing herself and being exposed. She was a master of appearances and a proprietor of intuitive strategy. To that end she would always wipe the floor with anyone's pawn before the unlucky soul could even think of checking her king.

After an appropriate amount of mingling, Andy was able to take a break before Miranda began to converse with the key players in attendance. Andy immediately snaps up a champagne flute from a passing waiter, intent on cashing in on a rare moment alone. Runway had reserved the entire wing of the Met's Asian Art Gallery which was an impressive feat for this time of year. For a moment Andy pauses by a mood-lit stage to listen to Norah Jones and a live band croon out dreamy vocals about budding romance and the vulnerability of humbleness. As Norah's smoky voice weaves through the sophisticated crowd and enchants the moment it would go without saying that Runway was doing a fine job of staying ahead of the publishing market on domestic and foreign fashion shores. Rubbing fashion against art and tossing in live music was a notable idea to be envied. Naturally, tonight had been Miranda's brainchild.

Andy's eyes climb up the print that she was now facing. There were countless and priceless pieces to admire and sip five-hundred dollar champagne in front of. But there was something about Katsushika Hokusai's 'The Great Wave at Kanagawa' that compliments and demands the viewer's unwavering attention.

Andy kept her senses locked on the elegant crowd sweeping in and out of her range of view. But her eyes belonged to Hokusai's compelling wave dominating the scene on the canvas in stark fury. She tilts her glass and champagne sparkles down her throat. Each one of her visits to the Met drew her to this same spot to consider the composition through fresh eyes. The towering wave. The people in the three boats under the mercy of the wave's power. The majesty of Mt. Fuji set on a distant horizon. It didn't take much to interpret the embedded message. The artist's stunning use of ink and color captured a visual snapshot of an infinite force of nature versus the mortality of mere men. What the print didn't show was the inevitable end. Andy's mind plays out the rest in graphic intensity: The poised wave swells across the paper and slashes through the vulnerable boats, washing the slate clean. Zero percent survival rate.

And the saddest part about it all? Andy had just cast her and Miranda as two of the people on one of those pitiful boats on the verge of being swallowed whole by a merciless ocean. What would happen when "sink" or "swim" were the only options they had left? Were they even capable of preventing it from reaching that point? Andy downs the glass. Were they already there yet? She feels the hairs on her neck stir. The champagne did little to prevent her from picking up the presence approaching her from across the gallery. Her eyes continue to flow with the wave. For now she left it to her tactical senses to identify her visitor leaving her free to quietly enjoy the print for a few more precious moments.

When the person coming up behind her steps within five feet she had already acquired all the sensory data she needed. Armani leather wing-tips clapping on the marble floor. A spritz of Bvlgari cologne. The clink of onyx cufflinks against a martini glass. All telltale indicators of the person now occupying her personal space.

Andy sighs, "Stand with me for a moment, Nigel," and continues to soak in the expanse of well-lit art.

A slender flute of champagne sways in front of her nose, obscuring the summit of Mt. Fuji on the canvas. For a moment Andy feels like batting it away. "Not a good idea. I've had wine before I got here and I have already added to that order since we've arrived."

Nigel rolls his eyes and presses the champagne into her hand. "Live it up, Six."

"Shut up, Gandalf."

"I did bring you a drink. You might want to rethink your rudeness. Besides you look live you've had enough to drink and that seems like an excellent reason to have another. Now let's not waste this beautiful opportunity and try our best to get secretly buzzed on Runway's dime."

"Keep it secret, keep it safe."

"Wait a flipping minute. I thought I was the flaming wizard in this shire?"

They share a mutual grin and clink glasses. But more than anything they watch the wave in comfortable silence. Andy with her champagne. Nigel with his date for the night, a pretty Cosmopolitan with a cherry hat and a vodka kiss. Eventually they weave through the stylish crowd to view other historical relics and treasures from various Chinese and Indian dynasties. They are interrupted by the random designer, model, or socialite who couldn't resist getting in an eyeful of the charming young woman that snared a dragon that refused to be slayed.

In the clacking halls of Runway and in places far beyond, Andy was a mythical legend come to life. Nigel was convinced it was all of that natural sweetness combined with an enigmatic smile. That powerful combo seemed to melt the hearts of everyone in Andy's vicinity. That smile also incited a train of business cards, promises for free meals and champagne from each person she wove her magic around. It wasn't until Nigel steers her away from her latest pack of admirers did Andy notice the world around her had dulled considerably.

Nigel points to an ancient sculpture carved out of beautiful beige stone as they take a seat on a bench together. "That has next Spring's patterns written all over it."

"Then I feel it's my duty to inform you that it's the Goddess Durga severing the head of a demon buffalo."

Nigel blanches. "Bitter, party of one." He finishes his drink and nudges her shoulder, hoping to jump onto a more interesting topic of conversation. "So Six, do you think a little one is inked into your and Miranda's agenda? Stab me brutally and cut off a limb if I'm stepping over some invisible line here, but whatever you do just don't throw me to your wife as a snack..."

"It's alright Nigel."

"…because Miranda certainly wouldn't like the fact that I'm all gristle and fat. And let's face it, she'd be nuts not to want to put a baby in that gorgeous body of yours."

At Nigel's words, Andy eyes automatically scan the perimeter like a zoom lens, filtering out low-level threats and cocktail conversations. Her eyes coast to a stop and linger on Miranda less than seven feet away. Shit. She had absolutely no problem profiling Nigel from over five feet away. So how had her wife managed to slip past her defenses? She could usually sense the woman no matter what, her scent and energy were as unique as a fingerprint. Andy blinks and analyzes the contents of her glass. Perhaps for once at these soirees, the quality of the champagne had far exceeded its price tag.

She absently plays with the rim of her glass as she watches her wife out of the corner of her eye. Miranda was currently engrossed in a conversation with Irv Ravitz and the Ambassador of the UK. The Editor-in-Chief was poised in her usual domineering stance as she commands the room. Her striking azure eyes remain entirely intent on her subject. But her smile. The smile didn't reverberate within those cherished eyes. The smile seemed to say, "I'm here in body, but never in spirit." She was a free-standing object of wonder, a force of intrigue. It was typical Runway Miranda in all of her formal brilliance.

"That will never happen Nigel. At least not now," Andy smiles tightly through the swift burst of sadness that burns her chest. 'Damn the champagne.' "and maybe not ever," she finishes, tossing the remainder of the amber liquid down her throat.

"Do you guys ever talk about extending the family?"

They had discussed it at length in the beginning. Of course that was when everything was still so fresh and new. Now there was a very short list of boy and girl names collecting dust somewhere in Andy's office. "Not really, she already has kids and I love the twins."

"I know you do, but you're still young yet, my dear. Don't wait until your internal clock demands a battery replacement," Nigel teases.

"I wish it were that simple my friend." Andy's eyes move to her wife again like a magnet. A bright spark of jealousy she hadn't felt since she was thirteen instantly blazes through her as she watches the ambassador lightly caress Miranda's arm in conversation. Andy's gaze helplessly roams over an entity that everyone basked in the glow of, but she could not touch. She feels a sudden urgency to escape that all-consuming glow. "Hey Gandalf, I'm heading to the ladies room and when I come back you better have a plate of h'orderves and another glass of that amazing bubbly in hand," Andy insists in a serious tone and giggles a second later.

"Andy, I'm officially cutting you off," Nigel says, holding her up by the waist.

"Thank you Nigel, but I already have a father," Andy responds seriously, snapping out of his grip with surprising strength. "And if memory serves me correctly, you bear no resemblance to him."

Nigel shakes his head and starts searching for the nearest exit. "Miranda is just going to love dealing with a tipsy Andy," he mutters under his breath as he watches the brunette sway towards the restrooms as if she were balancing on a pair of chopsticks.

He spots his future Mr. Forever near a collection of ancient pottery and flits away from the scene to introduce himself. Making a fool out of himself in front of a cute rich bastard that was ten times out of his league was far more preferable to Miranda's fire any day.

With Miranda it seemed clear. The idea was to avoid controversy as much as possible, to keep all of her vital conversations on comfortable ground tonight. She controlled the dialogue within the elite group surrounding her and left little room for questions about awkward issues—Like how married life was treating her. As soon as Andrea walked away, Miranda turns her attention to the empty bench. She gives the space just enough scrutiny to rewind and play back every single word she had just overheard Andrea and Nigel saying in that exact spot.

"Mrs. Priestly, that relief across the hall. Are you familiar with its particular dynasty?"

Miranda's mind and considerable skills were working overtime to stay attune to her wife even while making deals and cultivating alliances. Miranda discreetly tracks Andrea's path with her eyes, slowing her down to a quarter of her speed. Andrea's pale cheeks were flushed. Eyes dim. All the signs were there. Andrea was riding a bullet train toward inebriation. She watches Andrea pluck another glass of champagne from a waiter before disappearing into the bathroom.

Miranda cast her eyes briefly to the sculpture on a pedestal over ten feet away and responds in soft, chilled tones,"Eastern Ganga dynasty. 13th century. India." She flashes a fake smile at the Ambassador of the UK. "It's most popularly known as…Loving Couple."

Inside the bathroom Andy's sixth glass of champagne of the evening dangles from her fingertips. She slouches against the door and tries to take in her surroundings. It wasn't until the champagne buzz seductively whispers into her ear that the coast was clear did she move over to the row of sinks. She sighs at the young woman staring back at her from the other side of the mirror.

Andy never liked seeking clarity from inebriation, but tonight….

"What the fuck are you doing with your life?" She demands of the reflection in the mirror.

.…liquid therapy seemed to be flowing from the tap.

Andy wipes the angry frown from her reflection with a saucy grin. She flicks herself off. She toasts to her mirror image. Twice. Only then did the champagne vanish from the glass in one strong swallow. She didn't even taste a drop of it.

As the champagne washes away more of her alertness the sharp flush of a toilet echoes through the spacious bathroom. A disturbing twist of awareness creeps into Andy's skull just as a stall door swings open and a woman emerges. Bingo.

There's a cynical lift to the corners of the poisonous mouth smiling behind Andy and directly into her reflection. And when their eyes meet in the mirror Andy's hand clenches. If the world were her proverbial oyster Andy would want nothing more than to pin the other woman down in her Donna Karan dress and carve the smile slowly from that pretty face, slice by cruel slice.

"Well, well, if it's not the lovely, young Mrs. Priestly."

"Well, well if it's the not so lovely and definitely not so young Ms. Follet."

Jacqueline leaves a trail of bitter perfume in the air as she slithers to the sink to wash her hands. "I keep wondering why Miranda is still wasting her time playing in the gutter." she sighs, flicking her fingers in the space between them as if Andy was the world's largest bug on the windshield of life.

"Consider it your lucky night because I happen to have the answer to that." Andy leans over the sink and whispers as if she were revealing a well-kept secret.

"Jealousy. Because she is in love and happily married. Am I right? Nevermind. I know I am." Andy grins, looks around slyly and lets her voice dip low. "And I'm not even going to get into the completely sexually satisfied part." She winks insolently. "One word, Jacky: _epic_."

Jacqueline examines Andy like a sovereign territory prime for her conquest. The empty glass in the sink was irrefutable evidence of the younger Mrs. Priestly's intoxication. She would be loathed to let this chance slip away. The sweet femme's tongue was loose, her perception dull, all defenses down. It was either her or a leaked tip to the media that would reap the rewards of this night. Jacqueline Follet's mental hands rubbed together gleefully. She only had one motto in life: Divide and conquer, then conquer some more.

"You think you are smart, don't you?" Jacqueline asks her over her shoulder as she dries her hands. "But you are not," she glares at her, "you are young. Stupid."

"Since we're swapping adjectives here—you are old and bitter. I feel sorry for you," Andy seethes without looking up. Andy knew that she was beyond buzzed. She was also regrettably aware enough to know that her empty champagne flute was a physical example of herself—drained empty and left behind. And it pissed off the more rational side of herself like crazy. To this end she keeps her gaze casually on the glass and lets the most sadistic part of herself fall out of her mouth instead.

"You tried to get her job and failed. You tried to have her ex husband and failed, even when I thought you would be doing her a favor. Now you are using that same sense of adolescent-worthy rhetoric to fuck with my nerves. But since it's such a beautiful night I will give you free and non-redeemable advice," Andy's stare clawed into her openly now. "Don't try to test my patience tonight. You. Will. Fail."

As Andy's words fly in one ear and catapults rapidly out of the other Jacqueline smirks like a hyena scenting fresh meat. 'My, my, my. Such fire.' She had to give it to her nemesis; Miranda had impeccable taste in fashion and women. This fiery young thing was welcome to come warm her bed on her choice of nights. No invitation needed.

"She will do with you what she did with everybody that served her purposes already." Jacqueline closes the distance between them with each click of her stilettos on the marble floor.

"Miranda always does three things."

Click.

"Un: She makes you fall in love with her."

Click.

"Deux: She pretends to love you back..."

Click.

"Trois… and then she leaves you." Jacqueline was close enough for her breath to caress Andy's cheek as it absorbs each of those painful words. When the girl's breath hitches she licks her lips and went in for the kill. "I wonder in which stage she is with you right now."

'Miranda would never...' Andy chuckles, shaking her head. "You have serious issues woman."

"Do I?" Jacqueline coos. She subtly brushes the back of her hand delicately up the butter soft fabric of Andy's dress as she shrugs."Tell me the last time you made love with her." Jacqueline's eyes gleam fanatically. "The last time she made you come." The accented words snake softly into Andy's ear. "Tell me how many times you have to masturbate because your sex life with her now is nothing more than a vague memory."

Jacqueline's hand delicately ascends Andy´s bare arm as if it were the most delightful plaything in existence. Her voice works just enough sorcery to push Andy deeper into her golden inebriation. "You deserve a woman that can satisfy your young appétit." Her plum painted nails slink up Andy's shoulder and sinks into the supple skin there. "That can treat you the way you deserve, ma chérie."

Jacqueline stares wildly into Andy's doe eyes. She fully understands how Miranda failed to resist this fine feminine specimen and she had every intention of ignoring her own resistance as well. Her fingers crawl in closer for a taste of Andy's flesh. The girl's body heat and innocent sex appeal make her feel hungry and malevolent. Couple that with the fact that she was about to have a piece of what Miranda Priestly took for granted every day made the Frenchwoman's skin tingle and her breathing seep rapidly from her nostrils.

Forget tomorrow and the day after. Right now. Right this moment, the young Priestly bride was hers for the taking. Such power was delicious. So delicious it should be illeg-"Fuck! Dieu!"

Jacqueline lets out a string of colorful obscenities in French as the bones in her hand protest loudly against the treatment Andy was now giving it. Jacqueline looks stunned over the little display of strength.

Alcohol certainly dulled the senses and made clowns out of the most respectful of people, but Andy still had enough dexterity at her beck and call to snatch Jacqueline's hand so fast that the older woman was stumbling backwards against the sinks, wobbling in her Jimmy Choos, before she could even register Andy's movement.

As Jacqueline's hips hit the rim of the sink she grins. 'No, not a fire. A full blown blaze.' She tested the waters, moving cautiously and eventually feels Andy's hand relax against her own. They pause, staying that way as Jacqueline bites her lip in victory, watching Andy's walls crumble one by one.

Andy didn't notice the bathroom filling up loudly with their heated breaths or Jacqueline's hand still lurking near her dress. But through her drunken haze Andy was well aware of whom her body belonged to and the only person that could touch and worship her body until she screams her pleasure and her praise. Jacqueline Follet would always pale in comparison and measure to her wife, but that reality didn't stop Andy from feeling weakened by the doubts that had occupied a troubled space inside of her heart all evening.

Every muscle in Andy's body suddenly felt lax. Her body was fully succumbing to the alcohol that was acting like morphine for her emotional pain. She was lost inside herself, not seeing Jacqueline, not seeing the artful decor of the restroom. Instead she looks out over a sad terrain littered with remnants of a failing marriage and the emotional fatigue that resulted in her inability to let go and give it all up. Because giving it all up would result in a worse type of failure. Failure was never an option. At least where Miranda was concerned.

Jacqueline softly smacks her lips together, leans in with all of the sleekness of a serpent, and tosses her final chip onto the table. "The night is young and I have a car waiting outside..."

Behind Andy the restroom door cracks open. The resonance of Norah Jones' rich voice, the din of cocktail conversations, and the joyous ring of champagne flutes clinking together pour into the restroom. Another pair of heels echoes into the room, then the door closes and silence reigns.

Flares of horrid awareness skitter down Jacqueline's spine and her entire body tenses.

By the terrified expression splashed across Jacqueline's face, Andy was one hundred percent certain to whom the third pair of heels belonged to without even turning around to confirm the fact.

Miranda instantly decides that she could handle this one of two ways: the obvious way is to break every single one of the 206 bones in Jacqueline's body slowly and excruciatingly. Rules and bones were, of course, made to be broken. Her hand suddenly itches for her katana sword. Scratch that. She didn't want to scare Andrea with the gruesomeness of such a scene.

And the second way…

"Take your hands off of her, now."

As soon as the icy words drop from Miranda's mouth the bathroom froze into a glacial landscape. The Editor was well aware of the fact that she was a natural predator that didn't have to move to get what she wanted. Plus, her words often held more power than her actions on most days.

"Miranda…" Jacqueline steps from around Andy immediately and swallows audibly. "…she is drunk. I-I was simply trying to assist her," she stutters, grasping at a faulty explanation—originality had never been her strong suit. The Frenchwoman quickly starts to consider which would be more effective: leaping out of the third floor bathroom window and risk breaking her neck or facing Miranda Priestly head on right now.

"Lovely." Miranda stalks further into the room, her snowy forelock dancing across her raised eyebrow. "And do you honestly think inducing vomiting by trying to shove your tongue down my wife's throat is an appropriate level of assistance?"

Andy looks behind her to meet Miranda eyes that have hardened to dark pinpricks beneath elegant eyebrows, in a face she hardly recognizes at all. Miranda's eyes glint with an unfamiliar shade of cold intensity. Andy tries not to gasp when she recognizes the emotion frozen within the blue depths: Pure rage.

It was then that Andy realizes that Miranda could never be any of the helpless people on the boats in Hokusai's "The Great Wave". No, Miranda was the wave itself. A potent force of nature poised to crash down, consuming all of them in its raw power.

"Hi baby." Andy hiccups, pivots and almost loses her balance in the process.

Miranda had previously calculated the amount of champagne Andrea had the entire evening. Add that to the knowledge that Andrea wasn't used to consuming so much in such little time. The reality that Jacqueline Follet was clearly taking advantage of that fact made her unleash a venomous look on the Frenchwoman that should have vaporized her on the spot. Raw hostility oozes out of every pore on the Editor like poison from a scorpion sting.

"Leave. Now."

The Editor articulates each word with the emphasis of a threat. She would deal with Jacqueline later. Page Six would triple in sells after receiving anonymous and lewd color photos of Mr. Follet greased into a pair of leather, assless chaps. And what would really stab her vengeance home is the clear presence of his underage, Taiwanese mistress in each shot as she brutally flogs his hideous ass with a vintage riding cop. She had paid a mint for the originals and the digital backups. Luckily in this scandal-hungry world, filth sells.

After she was done with her, Jacqueline wouldn't even be able to find a safe haven in outer space. And only then would she reconsider picking her off from a dark rooftop with her beloved Remington 700 rifle.

Jacqueline didn't need any more incentive to vacate the premises. She slips by Miranda with her back pressing close to the wall. She turns around rebelliously at the last moment to blow a flirtatious kiss toward Andy behind Miranda's back, lips flicking into a grin as she exits the bathroom.

No matter. Miranda had an appropriate trap to hide in Jacqueline's path like a ticking time bomb. There was more than one way to fatally wound her prey. Jacqueline Follet would bleed before the week was over. Meanwhile the Editor was already taking great satisfaction in killing the Frenchwoman off in her mind in her own sadistic, mental movie reel. She looked forward to sending Jacqueline directly to her own private hell: death by a thousand, humiliating cuts.

'_Touch what's mine? Kiss your mortality goodbye. Fuck the repercussions.' _

Miranda moves into Andy's vicinity by osmosis. One moment she is five feet away and the next she is standing quietly beside Andy, exuding an oasis of calm.

"What did she say to you?"

"Nothing that wasn't true." Andy replies, sighing heavily.

"Humor me and be more specific, Andrea."

"Why? You wouldn't do anything to change the reality of that truth anyway. Don't you dare stand there and pretend that you care." Andy's eyes meet hers defiantly before flashing away.

"You should be well aware of the fact that Jacqueline is willing to do or say anything to get what she wants, so I highly recommend that you forget everything she told you."

Andy opens her mouth to say something but she starts to laugh instead.

"Roy will take you home and we will continue this discussion in the morning. You are obviously in no condition to have an adult conversation." Miranda opens her Hermes Birkin clutch to retrieve her cell phone.

"Why?" Andy had stopped laughing; her pale features were now as hard and impenetrable as a rock. "So you can stay and continue your chit-chat with the ambassador?" Andy raises an accusing finger in the air between them. "Who by the way was fucking flirting with you the entire fucking night!"

"Keep your voice down." There's steel interwoven within the threat in Miranda's voice. "You are speaking utter nonsense."

"Am I, Miranda? Because from what I was witnessing you were speaking a little too close with lots of touching."

"You are considerably drunk, Andrea. You have no idea what you are talking about." Miranda hisses, trying to capture the brunette's arm.

"I'm not drunk, I'm insightful," Andy replies through clenched teeth. She sweeps her arm out of Miranda's reach. "And why do you care if I'm drunk or not?" Andy asks, bringing her face within inches of Miranda´s.

'_Because I love you.' _

"Because you are still my wife," Miranda answers grimly.

"Still?" Andy absorbs the word like a bullet. She stares at the Editor, her eyes demanding the answer to the unspoken portion of her question.

Miranda's reputation in the fashion world and within covert circles had always been based on her uncanny ability to think on her feet at all times, but there was certainly one brown-eyed exception to this truth. Andrea had always wielded the power of distorting her mental processes. Tonight was no different.

The silence that followed Andy's outburst stretches like a tangible gulf between them and before Miranda could form a proper reply the door opens and the sounds of the party push into the restroom once more.

Both of their eyes shoot to the unfortunate soul who had invaded the private and emotionally-charged moment. As Melania Trump steps inside, Andy turns away while Miranda glares viciously at Donald's latest trophy wife. The flash of cool disgust in her blue eyes could only be interpreted in two ways: Wrong time. Wrong bathroom. Melania was glued to the floor in a trance due to the thick bed of emotion she had obviously stumbled into.

"Get. Out." were Miranda's only words.

"I…I'm sorry Miranda," Melania babbles, backing out of the door and completely forgetting her need to relieve her bladder.

As Melania's retreating footsteps fade into silence Miranda turns her attention to Andrea once again. Her wife's dark hair shimmers under the soft lighting in the room and a sweet burst of memory of that silken hair against her body sweeps through the Editor. She feels oddly ashamed and absolutely broken watching Andrea lost in the domain of her own dark thoughts. Is this what heartbreak felt like? One impossibly large, raw nerve? Miranda watches as Andrea blinks at her and tries to straighten under her gaze; she seemed to be pushing her shoulders up against the weight of depression.

"You look beautiful in that dress tonight," Miranda said out of the blue. "If that is even possible." Miranda gives her a genuine smile and Andy feels her heart dissolve into a puddle of sensation that only one woman could elicit.

"Thank you," Andy answers with a shy smile. "I'm glad you noticed."

"I always notice everything about you, Andrea." Miranda caresses her cheek with the back of her knuckles making Andy flutter her eyes close at the velvety touch.

"Then why do I feel as if you don't?" When Andy opens those honey-colored eyes again Miranda felt her gut seize. "Why do I feel like we are losing each other?" Her hoarse voice breaks with each word that tumbles from her full lips. "If it's my fault please tell me and I will try to fix it. I'd die to fix it, baby. Just..just...please...let me fix it. Dammit, you have to let met fix this, Miranda!"

Tears burn behind her eyes so fast, Andy had to blink hard to keep the stinging moisture at bay. No. Not in front of Miranda. It was a well known fact that Miranda Priestly didn't tolerate many things and weakness happened to be quite high on the list. Emotions were leaking rapidly around the alcohol and Andy did her best to swallow the emotions back as she tries to gain some measure of control.

They stand there facing each other and for a moment, for an inexplicable and wondrous moment, Andy watches the mask fall from the Editor's heartbreakingly, beautiful face.

Miranda feels her heart fall to its knees. She had learned in her experience that like any covert mission, promises and lies had their own degree of danger. She wishes she could tell Andrea that she is equally afraid of losing her. And if it's anyone's fault than it was her fault to own. Instead, she kisses Andrea´s forehead feeling the skin warm and alive beneath her lips. Perfect love may very well be rare indeed, but there was a certain madness in that truth.

"Let's go home, we will save this discussion for another time and a better ambience," Miranda intones softly, stepping back.

"Will you go home with me?" Andy asks hopefully.

"Yes." Miranda places her hand on the small of Andy´s back and guides her out of the bathroom.

Later that night after Miranda finally helps Andrea to their bed and lies down next to her; Andrea turns around, pulls Miranda´s body close to her and snuggles deep into her sweet warmth.

"I could kill the dwarf ambassador with two fingers if I wanted to," Andy slurs, still visibly drunk and starts to snore lightly two seconds later.

"I'm sure you could," Miranda smiles. She kisses the silky, dark head that was resting comfortably on her chest.

Unlike the huge abyss that had filled the space between them for quite some time in their marriage, tonight everything seems be forgotten and they were able to sleep wrapped in each other's arms like a genuine couple. All they could do is cling to each other in their bed. Their warm embrace held everything. The embrace was the lid. Until tomorrow of course.

TBC…


	7. Chapter 7

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly **

**Chapter 7**

**-A few days later-**

Andy woke up early this morning, a rare event since Miranda was usually the one to wake up first. In the beginning, that was always on purpose because Miranda always made sure Andy woke up with a wet tongue circulating on some very ticklish spots in her body. Morning sex was never that spectacular before Miranda. And now things have changed considerably; since the only thing that Miranda does now is poke her on the arm and leave. She doesn't really care if Andy wakes up or not.

Andy jumped out of the bed and in less than 15 minutes she had showered, dressed and was walking into her home office. She closed the door and sat down on her Herman Miller Aeron leather chair, already pressing the under table key buttons and her customized desk and the bookstand behind her immediately opened in half, revealing an incredible arsenal of semi and fully automatic guns. Also included were grenade launchers, 4 point Shuriken titanium stars, Kevlar vests, remote control grenades, switchblades, money from a lot of different countries and wigs of many colors and sizes. Andy picked up the weapons she wanted for the day which were a Heckler & Koch P7M8, that she put on her left ankle and a set of Eagle eye throwing knives on her other ankle both equally hidden under a pair of tight Diesel black jeans.

Back in the master bedroom Miranda had already finished putting on her makeup. She put her red silk robe on and walked closer to the huge mirror in their bathroom and soon a retina scanner was running on Miranda´s sapphire blue eye. The mirror slide to the right side as a titanium door started to open in front of her reveling a hiding passage, that lighted as she walked through the incredible mini armory store that included, guns of all calibers, Orchid Katanas samurai swords forged in her honor, Colt M4 Carbines, snipers rifles, remote control grenades, SPAS-12 shotguns, explosives c4 in quantity to provide a 4th July parade of fireworks, IR Israeli Sniper Rifles, Walther WA2000 rifles, millions of dollars, passports, Paul Ehler Scorpio Shurikens especially made for her in platinum, which warranty hiding success beneath the finest lingerie. She chose one shuriken and a SIG P232 pistol that will be fashioned hidden underneath her Chanel black suit.

They went to their separate ways to work. Andy was taking the elevator to the twentieth floor of the building where the _Mirror _offices are and Miranda was already walking down the corridors of Elias-Clarke publication in her imperial march challenging those insignificant people to dare to cross her path.

Andy took some files from her new assistant Jessica and went straight to her office, she isn't in the mood to socialize with the others like she always does when she arrives at work and lately the reasons for her to show her warm bright smile are rare, maybe only the twins are responsible for some of those singular moments. At her office she sat on her chair and let out a tired sigh trying to remember the events of a few nights ago, and the only part she cared in go over and over in her mind is waking up in Miranda´s warm embrace and how good and right they felt together again until the moment when Miranda rose from the bed and left in silence. They didn't talk about what happened at the Benefit with Jacqueline or try to work out the huge space between them as a couple. Words continue to fail them.

Emptiness.

Memories and the necessity for answers would not help Andy to do her job today. After another sigh she pressed her thumb on the side of the chair and immediately the mechanism recognized her digital thumbprint, shutting off the lights with only the monitor screen lighting up the office.

Andy would never know if she is an assassin with the spirit of a journalist or vice versa. The only thing she knows is that write for her it's an act of magic, sometimes an act of escape from her hiding other life.

Writing is to give words to those who cannot speak; to civilize the passion; to tame an otherwise unruly world. Writing to Andy Priestly is, sometimes, an act of courage and other times an act of stupidity, but always a search for purgation. It is to create castles of sand with words and not fear the wind. Being an agent give Andy the chance to make the difference in this chaotic world, but be able to express her thoughts in her writing give her a chance to open minds, to change perspectives with facts.

"Ok, we have a problem," Lily said storming into the office not bothering to knock. Andy simply raised an eyebrow, annoyed at the sudden disturbance.

Lily handed a cup of coffee to Andy and plugged the slim screen she was caring into the iMac that was on the table.

"Good morning to you too" Andy faked a smile saving and closing the window with her article. Once again the writing would have to wait.

"You have a new mission," the archive started to load as Lily informed her, "a priority A in the level of national security." She stopped to see Andy's reaction to the next information, "the target: Christian Thompson A.K.A the mentalist." Lily raised an eyebrow waiting for Andy to say something when she related the name to her past.

"Fuck," she muttered as she reclined in her seat. It had being ages since she had last seen or heard from him. After Paris, Miranda made sure he was blacklisted in pretty much all respected publication in NY. "I didn't know he played for the dark side."

"Apparently he does now," Lily said teasingly, "anyway, the target will be in a Hotel in Vegas for an encounter with the negotiator that will trade important copies of chip files about the new prototype of the Airplane _x-45B_ that were stolen from the Marine base in Florida two days ago." Lily was reading the profile as Andy continued reclined in her chair with her eyes closed. "Your mission is make sure the target is cancelled with the files." Lily explained and threw a package on Andy's desk. "Here is your cover to your beloved wife and the story you suppose to cover in Phoenix."

Andy looked at her and grew a smile. "Piece of cake," she said winking at Lily.

**-Elias-Clarke Publications building-**

Miranda has just ended an exhausting meeting with Nigel and the incompetent staff of art department when her cell went off. She looked at the ID, the familiar number could only mean one thing.

"Yes," Miranda answered.

"Your presence is requested at the penthouse right now." The voice said into the earpiece and ended the call making she groan annoyed.

Miranda walked to get the private elevator that only moves between her floor and the penthouse. As she left the elevator a machine started to scan her body doing the identification, showing the gun and the Shuriken dagger.

"Miranda Priestly, confirmed." the technology computer said.

"Sorry for make you come up here Miranda," a man said visibly anxious with those piercing blue eyes frying him on spot. "I know we promised you a vacation period but we have a situation and we need our best agent to handle this." He finished trying to keep up with Miranda´s walking.

He handed Miranda a small display that she didn't bother to take it as they continued to walk into the meeting room.

"We are really sorry," he said once again, "but with the other agencies trying to burn us out, we can't accept less than an agent with your expertise on this mission," he pushed the chair so Miranda could sit. "Yesterday two of our agents were killed when they tried to intercept the negotiator."

"Target?" Miranda asked as the wall turned into a big screen.

"Christian Thompson," he said holding his breath.

"You are trying to become a comedian?" Miranda raised a nasty eyebrow at him and turned her attention back at the monitor.

"Unfortunately no," he said. "The target is also A.K.A the mentalist."

"When is the target moving?" Miranda gritted her teeth looking at a video of Christian smiling at an unknown person, how she hated that pathetic cheap _Don Juan_ smile on his face.

"Our sources informed that he will be in Las Vegas tomorrow night to buy the files from the negotiator." The man turned to face her. "We need this mission accomplished with no fails."

"Did I ever fail before?" Miranda asked with a hint of irritation.

"Of course not Miranda," he added quickly, "I'm just saying the mission must be handled in a discreet and successful way." he finished trying to undo the knot of his tie, suddenly feeling very warm.

"Send the profile to Roy, I will also need the blueprints to the hotel" Miranda demanded standing from her chair. "And Clarke Jr." she stopped by the door.

"Yes Miranda" he answered looking at her, biting his bottom lip.

"After this mission, I'm on vacation. Indefinitely. That´s all." She said turning away not giving him time to answer.

Miranda exited the elevator and as soon as she walked into her office Emily informed her Andy had called 5 minutes ago and needs to talk to her urgently. Miranda sat on her chair and speed dialed Andy's number.

"Hi darling," Andy greeted as she was filling her suitcase.

"Hi, you wanted to talk to me?" Miranda asked opening her laptop.

"Yes, I have to go to Phoenix tonight, an important story I need to cover." Andy informed her.

"Fine, I have to travel as well, a critical issue with the shooting in L.A that I will have to personally take care of."

"What about my girls?" Andy asked concerned. She knew the twins were used to Miranda´s work travels but with Joanna sick she was worried about them both being away at the same time.

"They will stay with their father, you don't have to worry about it. And I should be back in three days or less." Miranda informed her and Andy sighed in the other end.

"Damn it," Andy exhaled as she pressed her eyes shut, "I promised to take them to the Rockefeller Center on Saturday"

"Call them and tell you have work to do, they will understand," Miranda replied as she was reading the information about the stolen files.

"I know, I just don't like to break my promises to them." Andy said visibly upset. "They have been waiting for this all week"

"You can reschedule it for next week; it's not the end of the world."

"I will try to come back in two or three days as well."

"Good, do that." Miranda said back as she carefully examined the monitor with the informations about the Hotel now.

"Ok, and maybe you can go with us too." Andy said with expectation in her voice as she zipped the bag.

"If I don't have work to do, I don't see why not." Miranda agreed.

"Great, I gotta go now," she glanced over her watch, Lily is about to arrive, "bye," Andy was hoping for some kind of proper goodbye.

"Goodbye," Miranda said back.

"Miranda," Andy called before Miranda could hang up.

"Yes Andrea," Miranda said reclining on her seat.

Andy took a deep breath, her heart aching to say those three magical words but her proud mind was fighting against. "Nothing," the mind won, "I see you in a few days then." Andy said hanging up.

xxxxxxx

Las Vegas rose in the middle of the heat of the desert. The Disneyland for adults. The city that never sleeps. After sunset Las Vegas shows what it was made for, gradually the colorful lights of the Casinos begin to light and Vegas changes, suffocating everything that exists to his outline, and turning into an unimaginable, paradise in the desert, gigantic.

For a few, Las Vegas it is a perdition, for others temptress delights, the fact is, nobody manages to be immune to this fantastic city, where the most unlikely dreams are carried out and where all the fantasies are real. Unfortunately that is not applicable to Miranda, for her that city is nothing more than an enormous concentration of bad taste with hideous amount of Neon lights, eccentricity, Casinos, inconsequent drunk marriages and what makes Miranda´s already terrible mood gets worse, the oppressive and unbearable heat.

**- Venetian Resort Hotel Casino -**

Miranda was in her Venezia Bella View suite in a holding position, with the awfully heat that she was experiencing tonight she had to go against her natural choice and trade her usual steaming hot Starbucks coffee or the more often enjoyable British tea for a glass of low carb ice tea.

"Miranda, are we all set?" Roy asked from the wedding chapel roof where he was monitoring the Bouchon restaurant from the other side of the Hotel with Miranda´s room just a few floors above his head.

"Now I remember why I hate having to come to this city, or should I said the division of hell." Miranda took off her Hermes scarf from her neck, and walked out of the bathroom; she was feeling hot, her cheeks flushed and the slight annoying headache was the right ingredient to add at her awfully mood. Even with the huge window opened, the heat was still terrible. "Yes, the perimeter is armed and awaiting the precious target." She confirmed sitting in the chair.

Roy chuckled, it was not a secret for him how exactly Miranda felt about Christian. "The security cameras system is under control and the trader just arrived at the restaurant to meet the target, he has the briefcase, do you have the view?" He asked scanning the restaurant.

"Affirmative." Miranda responded watching Christian shake the man´s hand, with the tactical binoculars now. "Would´ve be so much easier and pleasurable if I could only put a bullet in his heart and another cutting through his head erasing that charming smile from his face." Miranda said coldly as she exhaled.

"I bet you would love that," Roy said giggling knowing how much Miranda wanted to consummate that part of the mission with her well know _mission accomplished_ signature. "But you know the briefcase must be destroyed with him."

"Whatever Roy" Miranda said and filled another glass.

Moments later, Roy feeling bored to death started to whistle the Titanic theme song, a practice he was already summarily discouraged to continue by Miranda, but sometimes he can't contain himself.

"Can you stop doing that? It's completely irritating." Miranda asked annoyed, and Roy stopped immediately.

"So, how are you and Andy doing?" Roy asked after a few more minutes breaking the silence again over their communication line.

"I'm not in the mood to socialize today Roy." Miranda said taking a sip of her tea.

"That bad huh?" He said innocently.

Roy could say he is the only person Miranda would consider her true friend and she can fully trust. They have known each of for the longest time and on several occasions they saved each other's life, or better yet most of the times Miranda saved his life in the field. So they have developed a strong alliance over the years. They saw the best and the worse of each other. Other times, Roy was Miranda´s shrink when she went through 2 disastrous marriages and Miranda was Roy´s shoulder to cry when he lost his pregnant wife and 2 children in a set up 5 years ago, he was never the same after that. They were a team. They are partners in crime, literally.

Miranda took a deep breath trying to collection her thoughts. "After this mission I'm taking vacation time. Indefinitely. I have to dedicate more time to my family." she stated simply but decisively.

"That is great, family vacations, Andy and the twins will love it."

"Lately," Miranda hesitated, "I feel like the only reason for her to still be with me, is because of the girls, they would be heartbroken if she ever left, and they would blame me for making Andrea not feel like a part of our family anymore." She was feeling her heart beginning to ache with her own words. "And they would be right. We are falling apart and I'm doing nothing to change that." She stated quietly.

"That is ridiculous Miranda," he cut in sharply, "Andy knows you love her." Roy assured her while his attention turned to the computer screen at his side.

"It doesn't matter if she doesn't fell loved anymore, if I don't show her how much I care about her. I don't want to lose her." Miranda paused to contemplate the truth in her next statement, "I'm scared." she admitted in almost a whisper.

Roy gasped at the last words. In all of those years he had know Miranda he didn't remember ever hearing her say she was scared of anything. "Well then make her see it," his tone trying to sound normal again. "Fight for her, you're Miranda 'ass kicking' Priestly, for God´s sake", he joked and Miranda snorted a little, only Roy could say such thing to her and not fear death sentence.

"I should've paid more attention, she is growing apart from me and I don't know what to do to make her happy again." Miranda said sadly as she continued to focus on the exchange of the briefcases at the restaurant.

"You deserve to be happy as well Miranda and she make you happy like no one from your past ever did, you both have to fight for your relationship, it needs two people to make or break a relationship." Roy said softly.

"I know, and I will to fight for us," Miranda said firmly, "as soon as I go back to New York, things will change."

"She is lucky to have someone like you Miranda." Roy said with sadness in his voice as he remembered his family.

When Miranda was about to reply, the computer alerted her that one of the armed perimeters had been violated. She rapidly took the binocular to see who is stepping into the room; she changed the frames to high quality night vision so she could see better who the intruder was. Miranda was again the professional, emotionless, infallible agent.

"Roy we have a non identified idiot in the perimeter. It's going to blow the charges." Miranda said scanning the place. The person is pulling the cart inside and Miranda could only see the back side of the body.

"Countdown initiated," Roy informed her. "The target it's not in the zone yet."

"Looks like a damn maid" Miranda said reaching for the computer to stop the detonation.

"Impossible, I have managed the service room to other suite."

"Well it looks like you didn't." Miranda stated grimly already picking her suppressed APR 338 sniper rifle. "Civilians." Miranda muttered aiming inside the room now by the electro scope, the maid will soon become another soul she has to take it down.

**-At Christian´s hotel room-**

Andy broke into the dark room pulling a cart.

"Ok I'm in." Andy said by the wireless earphone.

"Plant the C4 charges and get out of there, the target will start to move soon. We only can hold the elevator he will use for 5 minutes, you have enough time." Lily gave the instructions from her seat at the restaurant.

"All right" Andy said adjusting her blond short hair wig.

She opened the cart and started to set the dispositive that she will put under the bedside table.

"It's not a civilian Roy," Miranda said, her finger caressing the trigger.

"Oh God, this mission was going so well" Roy whined looking at the restaurant. "Miranda the target is moving."

"I knew it," Miranda said aiming in the intruder´s chest. "It amazes me how incompetence seems to follows me as magnet everywhere." She finished firing right in the heart.

"Fuck!" Andy screamed as her body jumped back to the ground.

"Miranda, the target has the files, he and 2 other people are walking through the elevators hall." Roy informed and Miranda got the binocular again so she could observe Christian´s course.

"Countdown initiated." Miranda said after work in the laptop at her side.

She continued to look at the elevator lobby and didn't see Andy getting up from the floor.

"Andy, what happened?" Lily asked franticly.

"God," Andy moaned holding her chest, the impact of the bullet burning in her skin. "Some son of a bitch just shot me."

"Well, do something, you only have a few more minutes." Lily ordered her.

Andy crawled to the cart and picked up a scan binocular. "I am picking up a weapon signature in a suite across the way." Andy informed.

Miranda was scanning the room again at the same time Andy was taking the GM-94 grenade laugher from the cart, she just had time to get her bag and run for the door.

"Suck that fucker." Andy shot 2 incendiary grenades into the room.

"Oh oh!" it was the only thing Roy could say as he see the grenades cruising the air above his head right into Miranda´s suite.

The explosion could be heard at distance. The brightness of fire combined with the lights of neon of the city could be easily mistaken as another show to entertain the hotel guests.

The burning-quick grenades can cause seven levels of vitality damages to any thing inside the ray of explosion. They keep on burning for several minutes, unless it was putting out with a fire extinguisher. Even after the fire is extinguished, the material has to be maintained far from any fuel to avoid his reigniting.

"Abort, abort" one of Christian security guys screamed and pushed him out before the elevator door could closed.

Inside the room Miranda was trying to stand on her feet, she had hide behind a door before the explosion and the fire could increase, fortunately the mattress absorbed most of the impact but the room was completely destroyed. A thick cloud of smoke filled the air as water sprayed into the room from the fire sprinklers.

"Damn Andy, get the hell out of there now." Lily shouted already walking out of the restaurant with people running in frenzy, screaming by her side to the emergency exit.

At the room Andy was quickly putting her belongs back in the cart when a fast beep got her attention. She knew that sound by heart, it's a bomb clock, she opened the suite door and jumped outside and one second later the whole room turned into a ball of fire.

Three minutes later, holding her shoulder, Miranda threw her bag at the side as she sat in the leather seat of the car.

"Do you think I can still think about an indefinite vacation period after that discreet and successful operation?" She asked in a serious tone while Roy exited the curb, trying hard not to laugh of Miranda´s wet hair and her destroyed Chanel long jacket.

"The cleaners are coming already," Lily informed Andy as she reached the back of the black Hummer SUV, holding her shoulder as well.

"Excellent," Andy said taking her wig off. "I want that room scanned for every single trace of evidence, because I'm going to fucking kill that bastard." Andy finished opening her chambermaid outfit and pointed to the bullet place on her Kevlar vest to Lily.

TBC…


	8. Chapter 8

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly- Chapter 8**

**-Back to New York-**

Andy walked into the Mirror building the next day, trying to be as quiet as possible. She went straight to her office, avoiding her assistant and the other people around, but unfortunately her invisibility didn't last very long. Her big boss was already waiting for her, sitting in her chair, and, as soon as she stepped in her office, he started yelling like a mad man at her regarding the disastrous mission of the night before.

A few minutes later, her boss slammed the door on his way out, almost hitting Lily in the process as she approached the room carrying a box.

"Wow, I'm glad I didn't have to deal with him like that," Lily giggled putting the box on the huge sofa across the office.

"This is not funny, Lily. He's pissed and someone has to pay. I have 72 hours to fix this mess or I'm fucked. Canceled. Dead." Andy said sitting in her chair now. She let out a tired breath, massaging her sore shoulder.

"Don't exaggerate. We just have to get the target and the files. We've handled situations way more difficult than this one before."

"Yeah, like taking candy from a kid," Andy said with a sarcastic smile. "So do we have anything about that damn guy in the hotel room? Because he will be the one paying in this equation."

"No, zero, zilch. The room was completely destroyed when the cleaners arrived. No fingerprints. No DNA. The rifle he had used had no serial number. The computer we found was completely burned. The cameras from the hotel were frozen with a program repeating the same images all day and no one noticed," Lily said sitting on the couch. "And guess what? The hotel room was in Brad Pitt's name. Yes, you heard right." She said when Andy raised a questionable eyebrow at her.

"Just great, so we're dealing with a professional?" Andy asked.

"Yes, and a high class one too. And you are only alive today because I do believe that I was the one who insisted you use that damn new Kevlar. The regular one would have been worthless against that bullet caliber." Lily said raising a finger to her.

"I know mommy," Andy said in a mocking voice and Lily started to laugh.

**-Elias-Clarke building- Penthouse- **

In her private office in the penthouse, Miranda is turning some people's life into absolute hell. They were all there trying to find some clue, any clue, about who caused her mission to fail and in Miranda's eyes, failing was simply not an option.

"I want that card in my hands NOW!" Miranda ordered over the cell phone when the office phone started to ring by her side.

"Miranda, the lab is doing everything they can to clean the damaged images," Serena informed her.

"You have 5 minutes to bring that card here." Miranda said hanging up her cell phone. She let out a sigh and picked up the other phone.

"The landlord is still with the worm." Miranda said.

"Our agency cannot afford mistakes like this one, not even from you, Miranda.", said the voice on the other side of the phone.

"I certainly know that." Miranda said in her usual cold tone. "Another player was in the field. The window is still open." She informed him.

"We do not leave witnesses behind, Miranda. You know the procedure. You have 72 hours to eliminate the player and close the window or we will have to do it our way." He said in a threatening voice.

"It won't be necessary," she said sure of herself and the call was ended.

Miranda looked at the audience that had stopped working to listen to the phone call. Miranda only sent them her stare signature and everybody immediately went back to their obligations.

xxxxxxx

Back at The _Mirror_, Andy and Lily were still evaluating the situation.

"So what do we do now?" Lily asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I don't know," Andy let out a frustrated sigh. "Are those the objects from the room?" Andy inquired as she stood up.

"Yes," Lily replied.

"Anything we can possibly use?" She asked walking over to the sofa.

"Not really, the fire destroyed pretty much everything."

Andy opened the box and closely looked at the burned objects, one by one. She was getting agitated, nothing she was looking at could give them any clue to help identifying the shooter, until a particular item got her attention.

"Jesus Christ" Andy whispered.

"Yes, I know what you are thinking, but don't get too excited; because I already searched and Hermes sells thousands of those per year. There is no way we can find the owner. It was probably forgotten in the bathroom from the previous occupant of the room and missed by the maid service."

"Yes I agree. It's probably a waste of time." Andy said, trying to control her breathing after the new change of evidence.

Andy kept looking at the partially destroyed scarf in the plastic bag. 'It can't be', Andy thought. She slowly opened the bag and took the fine piece of silk in her hand, while Lily continued to go over the other objects in the box. Andy brought it to her face and sniffed. Even with the strong smell of smoke, the unique designer perfume could still be recognized. The scent went straight through her nose and quickly spread through her whole body. She could never, not in a million years, not recognize that perfume.

"I want to be alone Lily" Andy said holding tight the scarf in her hand.

"Alright. I will go back to the lab and see if there's any good news about the laptop or if they found any other evidence." Lily said walking out of Andy's office, closing the door behind her.

As soon as Lily closed the door, Andy broke down. She walked back to her chair and sat down still holding the scarf in her hands, finally allowing involuntary tears to freely pour down her cheeks. A sharp throb radiated inside her chest. It was the pain of betrayal.

xxxxxxx

A few blocks away, Serena ran into Miranda´s office holding the card. She handed it to her and Miranda put it immediately into the SD card reader hooked to the monitor in front of her.

Miranda was going over the images. So far, nothing was conclusive. Because of the fire, the SD card in the digital video recorder that had been set up on the ceiling was severely damaged, and for that reason some parts were lost and pretty much all they had was some early images of the maid and some of Christian at the restaurant. She kept going over and over the images until she rewind it to the first image of the intruder coming into the room pulling the cart. The body form was not totally strange to her sense or the way those hips swayed as she walked.

Serena leaned over the table so she could see with more exactitude the image when Miranda froze the image on the screen.

"Go do something useful. Go and pick a hot Starbucks for me.", Miranda ordered. Serena nodded and in seconds, she was gone.

xxxxxxx

Meanwhile, Andy was pacing in her office, still holding the scarf in her hand. Her mind was racing with a thousand thoughts.

"It can't be, it can't be," Andy was whispering to her self. "Not her, not my wife."

She sat down in her chair and picked up her phone.

xxxxxxx

Back at the penthouse office, Miranda turned her attention back to the screen and pressed play. She started to zoom in on the person on the video fully examine them in detail. Her cell phone started to ring and she only looked at the assistants in front of her.

"Are you deaf?" Miranda asked making one of them ran over to answer it.

Suddenly, the one thing she feared the most appeared on the screen. The picture showed a very well known orchid tattoo on the back of the intruder's neck. She only saw it for a second when the fake maid fixed her wig. 'It can't be a coincidence', she thought.

"Miranda it's Andy.", said the assistant who had answered her cell phone.

"Yes it is," Miranda whispered, closing her eyes.

"Emily has Andy on the office line downstairs. She is back from Phoenix and she wants to know about dinner time." She said.

Miranda opened her eyes again and stared at the image of the tattoo she had kissed, nibbled and licked so many times while making love to Andy. A simple act that she has missed these past several months.

"Tell her…", she cleared her throat, letting any trace of emotion disappear. "Tell her, dinner is at the same time as always, at seven." Miranda said, never taking her eyes off the computer screen.

"Emily," the assisted started, "she said dinner is at seven like always."

On the other end of the phone, Andy was getting her answer from Emily, exactly the same way as she was told.

"Of course as always." Andy muttered, ending the call.

xxxxxxx

**- Priestly Townhouse- 6:59 pm-**

Andy entered the townhouse, walking into the dark foyer, as quiet as a mouse. Her Stella McCartney leatherette ankle boots were barely touching the polished wooden floor. She continued down the foyer to the kitchen when Miranda appeared in front of her, out of nowhere.

"Perfect timing," Miranda said and handed Andy a glass of red Valdicava Brunello 1995.

"As always, sweetheart." Andy accepted the glass and went on, "You never cease to amaze me." She locked eyes with Miranda while passing by her but Miranda immediately turned around so they could be face to face again.

"I hope so," Miranda said, her unreadable blue eyes staring at Andy. "You're home earlier than I thought."

"I missed you so much last night." Andy said, still holding her glass, "So I couldn't wait to get home."

"Mm. I missed you too darling." Miranda replied and caressed Andy´s face with the back of her hand. She missed the closeness but right now she had things more important to think about, like not being stabbed in the back by her wife.

"Where are my girls?", Andy asked.

She wanted to know that because if the girls were home, it meant that there would still be a tiny chance of everything being normal and of the day's events being nothing but a creation of her imagination, but if they weren't home, then she would have to face the reality that she was still trying to deny.

"Still with their father," Miranda informed and Andy took a deep breath. "Come with me?" She asked walking into the dining room.

"Always and forever", Andy said, smiling and following her, but not after tossing part of the liquid into the orchid vase in the hallway.

"I thought you only broke this wine out for special occasions." Andy said removing her leather jacket and staying only in a white Ralph Lauren tank top and tight fitting Givenchy leather black pants.

"This is a very special occasion."

"Oh really?" Andy asked faking surprise. "What are we celebrating?" she picked her glass up again.

"_The_ _Undeniable Truth_," Miranda said with a wicked smile on her lips. She was looking daggers at Andy.

"To the truth then" Andy said raising her glass smiling back with the same defiant look.

Miranda stepped closer and took the glass from Andy´s hand drinking the remaining wine in it.

"Are you hungry?" She asked.

"Starving." Andy answered.

"Perfect, I cooked something very special for you." She smiled again and went straight to the kitchen.

Andy remained in the dining room roaming around the perimeter in search of something that she could possible use to save her life from a potential set-up. Miranda came back a few minutes later carrying a silver tray in her hands, she placed it on the table and lifted the lid in front of Andy.

"Hum. Macaroni with meatballs, my favorite." Andy said with a smile but it was evident in her face that she was not thrilled at all.

"I told you this is a celebration," Miranda said back. "But this is only the beginning."

"You're amazing, you've been cooking just for me. I can't thank you enough." Andy immediately thought that it was her last meal before her execution.

"Anything for you my dear", Miranda said and picked up the salad plate.

"If I didn't know who Miranda Priestly truly was, I would have sworn you were the perfect housewife."

"Same goes to you darling." Miranda snapped back.

"So, how was L.A?", Andy innocently asked.

Miranda flinched and looked back at her, "You know how I feel when I have to deal with problems and we had a problem with the September layout."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Andy said faking a concerned look.

"Double booking with another magazine wanting the same model." Miranda walked over Andy again. "Tofu?" She offered.

"No thank you, you know I don't like that." Andy said, an artificial smile all over her face.

"You'll have some." Miranda put some of the fake cheese into her plate. "It's good for you, it's healthy."

"I hope everything works out fine at Runway." Andy said.

"It hasn't yet, but I can guarantee you that it will." Miranda said to her as she sat at the other end of the table with visible emphasis on the last words.

"Hum. Macaroni with meatballs really is my favorite meal." Andy said looking at the food in her plate. "Sweetheart, could you pass the chee…!" Andy chuckled when she saw the cheese pot right in front of her, Miranda nodded at her with her fingers intertwined in front of her.

Andy put the cheese on her food and soon the fork was traveling to her mouth.

"Did you try something new?", Andy asked as she tried to chew the food in her mouth.

"Yes, I'm glad you noticed", Miranda said with her blue eyes fixed on Andy's brown ones.

If Andy was not seeing the food in front of her, she would have sworn she was eating a rock instead of a meatball. She smiled at Miranda and swallowed the hard food. She could feel the meatball ripping her throat apart. Andy picked up the water glass and drank half of it, in effort to help the food go down quickly.

"So, how was Phoenix?", Miranda asked before starting to eat.

"I had a few problems as well, you know how the journalism business is," Andy stood up from her seat, "people wanting to shoot us in the heart to get an exclusive."

Miranda stopped a minute to take in Andy's words. She could´ve have killed Andy if she had dealt with the mission the way she always shot her targets down. One shot through the heart and another through the head.

"You poor thing," Miranda said with a smile trying to focus on Andy once again. "Was it that bad?"

"To live or die for", Andy said, closing the distant between them. "You fancy some wine?"

"No thank you," Miranda said.

"You will have some," Andy said already filling her glass. "It's good for the heart. It's healthy."

When Andy finished pouring the wine, she handed the glass to Miranda. As she did, the glass slipped from both of their grasps and crashed on the floor. They looked at each other trying to guess what one another will react and do.

"I'll get some paper towel." Andy said and ran out of the dining room.

"No, I'll take care of this, Andrea", Miranda said going to the back of the townhouse.

A minute later, Andy came down the stairs from her office carrying her 92SSGR-17 Taurus silenced. She walked down the foyer and into the kitchen.

"Miranda", Andy called out with her finger on the trigger. "Honey!"

As soon as Andy came back from the kitchen and started to move up the stairs to reach the second floor, she heard the garage door of the townhouse opening and tires squealing. Andy ran back and opened the main door of the house but Miranda's silver Porsche was already reaching the street.

"Miranda!" Andy yelled but was too late to get her.

She ran into the garage and pressed a few code buttons and soon the floor opened in half and a black Kawasaki Ninja XZ-14 came rising from the depths.

Andy was impressed with how fast the agency engineers had worked. The team had equipped their townhouse with all of her weapons and hiding places without any apparent traces but still keeping it safe for Miranda and the twins. They could never hit a button by accident and end up hurt or finding out about her secret life. She would never forgive herself if that ever happened and the engineering crew knew better, especially if they wanted to continue breathing. Besides the safety issues, the worst part they had to deal with was to set up an elevator under the garage floor, Andy insisted of having it big enough to hide a bike in case she needed to leave the house in a flash. The crew only had very little time to do every change in the house, barely a week. They could only do it when Miranda was out attending London Fashion Week and when the twins were at their grandma's house.

Andy put the helmet on and adjusted her gun in her belt so she could sit on the leather seat and a few seconds later, the bike was roaring out the garage. She used the helmet phone to dial Lily's cell phone.

"Hello", Lily answered.

"Lily, I need Miranda's Porsche GPS location right now and don't ask any questions." Andy threatened her.

"All riiiiiightttt", Lily drawled.

Lily made a few typing noises on the keyboard and soon was back. "The car is at Park Ave with E 62nd moving fast."

"Stay with me", Andy ordered.

"What happened?", Lily asked innocently.

"It's none of your damn business", Andy said impatiently.

"Domestic dispute?" Lily tried again trying to muffle a laugh.

"Are you kidding me?", she asked harshly. "Just tell me where she is now."

"She took the W 57th with 11th Ave," Lily informed her as Andy was driving at the speed of light between the cars.

A few minutes later, Andy caught a glimpse of the rear of Miranda´s car.

"Thanks Lily", she said and ended the call.

She sped up and soon, she was side by side with Miranda´s car.

"Miranda!", Andy yelled and she hit the right side of Miranda's car with her gun. "Stop the car."

Miranda could not believe what her eyes were seeing and she blinked to see if this was a dream or worse, a nightmare.

"Miranda, pull over!", Andy yelled again.

"How could I be so brainless?" Miranda was shaking her head in disbelief.

Andy noticed Miranda had no intention to stop so she sped up and turned at 47th down the 12th Ave so she could intercept Miranda on 44th. As soon as she reached the 11th Ave again, she stopped the motorcycle. She could see Miranda coming in her way, she stood from the bike to make it clear to Miranda she would not get out of the way. However when she started to remove the helmet, her gun accidentally shot straight at Miranda´s car.

"Fuck!" Miranda slammed on the brakes. She looked at the mark of the impact right in front of her face. Luckily for her, the windows of the Porsche were armored.

"Oh sweet Mother of God", Andy mumbled looking at Miranda's fuming face.

Miranda accelerated the car but didn't move. She was clearly saying some very bad things but Andy couldn't but be sure what it was.

"Wait, wait!" Andy said raising her hands. "No, no, accident, totally an accident."

Miranda grunted, accelerating the car once more.

"Miranda, honey, it was an accident!", Andy said stepping towards the car. Blue eyes fixed on her.

Miranda accelerated again and the tires screeched moving the car in Andy's direction.

"Miranda, stop the car! Now!" Andy yelled, but it was too late, she was already jumping onto the roof of the car.

Miranda continued driving and tuned onto 43rd in the direction of Pier 83.

"Miranda, stop the fucking car!" Andy yelled, hitting her hand on the roof.

Inside the car, Miranda was smacking the steering wheel. She had never felt so naive, so used. She was literally sleeping with the enemy.

"Miranda, let's talk. I'm sure we have a good explanation for all of this, baby." Andy yelled again trying to keep her body on the roof as Miranda turned.

"This is not the right way to deal with our problems!" Andy was yelling trying to get a throwing knife from her back pocket to tear up the back of the roof and slip inside.

"Now look", Andy said when she finally got into the car but once again, she was too late. Miranda opened the door and jumped out of the car leaving Andy inside.

"Our therapist will not like this!" Andy yelled looking at Miranda from the back window as the Porsche plunged into the water.

**TBC…**


	9. Chapter 9

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly**

**Chapter 9**

**-Later that night-**

Andy banged on a front door and a second later it opened revealing Lily.

"What happened to you?", Lily asked. She could not believe what she was seeing in front of her: Andy was soaking wet, there was a huge bruise on her left cheek, she was wearing only one boot and was holding the other one in her hand.

"My wife happened to me," Andy was almost yelling when she passed by Lily, leaving a wet trail on the floor.

Andy walked into the living room of the huge studio that Lily used as her home. She headed straight to the bar, opened its door, took a bottle of Vodka and drank two gulps directly from the bottle.

"She tried to kill me...," Andy said staring at Lily who still didn't understand what Andy was talking about. "...Twice...," Andy gulped again. "...In two days". She started to pace around or, more accurately, limp around since she had only one heel.

"Ok, I'm kinda lost," Lily said while sitting down on the couch.

"Unbelievable," Andy muttered under her breath as she continued to walk in circles.

"Who tried to kill you today? And what does Miranda have to do with any of this?" Lily asked.

**-Somewhere else-**

A soft, but continuous knock brought Roy to his front door.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, before taking a bite of an asparagus he was holding with one hand and a Katana sword in his other one.

"I'm going to kill her," Miranda said matter-of-factly, as she hastily took the sword from his hand, passing by him.

"It's nice to see you too, Miranda", Roy said with his mouth full of asparagus, closing the door behind him.

Miranda walked down the hall and started to pace in the little living room that looked more like a weapon store.

"She tried to kill me", Miranda quietly said, holding the sword in her hands. "Can you believe that?", Miranda asked, staring at him and waiting for his confirmation.

"Women are like this, heartless, they have no mercy", Roy said, sitting down on the sofa.

"Shut up Roy," Miranda ordered him before closing her eyes and massaging her temples with her left hand. Her mind was racing with millions of questions that had no other answer than the irrefutable truth: Andrea was not as sweet and innocent as she thought she was.

xxxxxxx

"You are kidding, right?" Lily asked as she handed an empty glass to Andy.

"No I am not. She's the fucking shooter from Vegas," Andy said poking at her own chest where the gun shot had hit her, and gulped the vodka from the bottle once again.

"That's impossible, Andy." Lily then took the bottle from Andy. "And stop drinking from the bottle, it's gross. I just gave you a glass."

"God, how could I not see the signs?" Andy was pacing the room, barefoot now.

"I still can't believe it," Lily filled the glass with the clear liquid and handed it to Andy.

Andy started at the glass in her hand, "Everything is crystal clear now" She chuckled bitterly. "The lying bitch totally got me," she finished, feeling the vodka burn in her throat as she emptied the glass.

"You think she used you?", Lily asked. "Of course she did", Lily answered before Andy could, "she set you up. Miranda is meticulous, smart. She is a great opponent without even being an agent. OH MY GOD!", Lily yelled the last part, putting her left hand on her cheek. "She is going to kill you."

"Ah really? If you hadn't said it, I would never have found out alone", Andy sarcastically responded. She was about to make a hole on the floor with her continuous nervous pacing.

"Andy, what you have to do now is to take the lying bitch down," Lily said before raising her own glass to a toast.

Andy stopped pacing and looked over at Lily, "don't you ever call her that name again," Andy finished and raised a finger towards her while she was still holding the empty glass.

"You just called her bitch," Lily snapped back.

"She is my wife," Andy felt the need to clarify her words, "I can say whatever I want about her, but you can't." Andy then walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"She is not your wife, silly", Lilly yelled after her. "She is a killer."

xxxxxxx

"So what is your plan?", Roy asked before taking a bite of an apple this time.

"I don't know yet. The only thing I know is that she used me like a brainless toy and no one makes a fool of me", Miranda said and stopped for a second to check on him. "Tell me you are not doing one of those idiot diets again."

"For your information, I'm doing the alphabetic diet, I have started today. I'm only allowed to eat food that starts with the letter of the day, so today I can only eat food which name that starts with an A", Roy proudly said and Miranda shook her head. She really did not want to believe in such stupidity.

"I still can not believe you managed to become an agent," Miranda said, ice in her voice, "and, more importantly, I can not believe that you're still alive."

"Anyway," Roy tried to change the subject, "the problem is almost solved then. She shameless lied to you," Roy said locking eyes with her. "You don't love her, she doesn't love you. You just have to kill her and you are done with your mission", Roy said and took another bite from the apple in his hand. "You don't love her anymore, right?" Roy asked and threw the apple in Miranda's direction.

Miranda cut the apple in four pieces with the katana sword, her eyes never leaving his eyes. "Right."

**-The Next morning-**

Andy opened the townhouse's garage door, her eyes scanning the perimeter behind Versace sunglasses, twins Heckler & Koch USP Match in hands. She passed the main door up the stairs. The townhouse was as quiet as a ghost city. Her sharpened senses registered the presence of only one living creature in the house, Patricia, which was slowly walking towards her. Andy kneeled down and Patricia put her fluffy head in her lap waiting to gently petted. Andy put one of her guns under her arm so she could play with Patricia's head.

"Hey girl", Andy whispered. She did not want to make too much noise. She did not know yet what was waiting for her upstairs.

A few minutes later, Patricia started to nap and Andy left her on the floor. She continued to walk towards her destination until she reached the second floor, she stopped at the half opened door of her office and used one of her guns to open the door completely, while aiming inside, waiting for the unexpected.

"Fucking bitch", Andy muttered gritting her teeth together when she saw her desk and the bookstand open and that all of her weapons were gone.

Andy walked into her office and could only see a note resting on her desk.

"_Thank you for the lovely little toys you left me,_

_You can consider this part of my share of our divorce._

_With all my love, MP."_

"Damn you, woman", Andy whispered crushing the paper in her hand. "Till death do us part, I promised you." Andy grunted walking out of her office.

**-Elias-Clarke building-**

"Target profile is our main priority", Miranda said to Serena who was closing the door behind her. "Search for every single trace of her. Phone taps, wires, credit cards, GPS, everything." Miranda was sitting down on her chair when her cell phone started to ring. Miranda plugged the phone on the Wi-Fi panel.

"Yes," Miranda answered knowing exactly who was making the call.

"Hi darling." Andy greeted her in her natural happy voice. It almost felt like the time when they were happy together, "I missed you so much last night. You know I have a hard time sleeping when you are not in bed with me", Andy said and Miranda could swear she was smiling on the other end of the phone. "Oh yeah, but that was before you tried to kill me of course."

Miranda motioned to Serena to immediately start getting information about the caller from the satellite.

"Andrea, I'm done playing your silly games, so I will give you a free warning," Miranda paused, "you have to disappear."

"Oh really? And if I don't?", Andy asked amused.

"Then you know what I will have to do with you", Miranda said in her threatening voice which seemed to be so natural to her and Andy felt once again like an idiot for never having noticed anything. Love had blinded her.

"You mean what you've already tried twice and failed?", Andy asked smirking, trying to concentrate on what she had to do. In her mind, Miranda was now nothing more than a mission, nothing more than a target that must become a measly number to her records among so many others. She wished her heart could feel the same way.

"Last chance Andrea, get your things together and go back to Cincinnati." As for Miranda, she could not believe she would ever open her mouth to tell Andy to leave her, the one person whom she ever completely loved.

"You are unbelievable, you know that?", Andy said not feeling intimidated by her. "I'm done playing the role of Mrs. Fucking Priestly. I'm done with you discarding me, treating me like crap, like I meant nothing for you for all of those years, like our love was only a lie to you."

"You should be used to it after two years of marriage and after the time you worked for me", Miranda said but regretted every single word, feeling her heart tighten.

"Three Miranda, three damn years and I am not leaving." Andy snapped back, "but since I have a good heart I will give you a chance to surrender."

Miranda giggled bitterly over the phone. "Not even in your wildest dream, Andrea."

Serena, who was sitting on the chair across Miranda's desk with three computer screens in front of her, cleared her throat, a bit frightened, while looking at Miranda who raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know how I always say you look incredibly hot in red?", Andy asked smiling over the phone. "Today is no different."

"What?… How do you..." Miranda was cut off by Serena's stare.

"Miranda…" Serena fidgeted in her seat.

"What?", Miranda whispered impatiently, "Did you find her?"

"Yes," Serena said, "she is behind you", she finished pointing at the window.

Miranda slowly turned her head to the side to see Andy waving behind a _Barrett M107_ pointed to her from the other building across the street.

"Hey baby," Andy said still aiming at Miranda's chest, "I can't believe how sluggish your people are, especially Serena," Andy said and Miranda shook her head, focusing her attention back to Serena.

"So, you are going to shoot me?" Miranda asked her, turning her body completely, daring Andy to shoot her.

"I don't want to, but if I have to, I won't hesitate." Andy said, not really wanting to make her words reality.

"You think you are smart, don't you? You have no idea what you are getting into, or how deep I can go to get you", Miranda said moving closer to the window.

"Hum," Andy whimpered in a sexy way, "I love when you say those things to me, such a turn on", Andy said moaning over the phone. "Anyway, to give you a proof of my mercy, I will give you a chance, you have 24 hours to leave the country", Andy said as she disconnected her earphone. She was nowhere to be found on the roof when Miranda's agents showed up there.

xxxxxxx

**-Lily's work gallery – The Next day-**

"Wait, you can't possibly be telling me that you had a chance to shoot the bitch and finally complete your mission and you didn't do it", Lily said in disbelief with her hands covering her eyes.

"Well, kinda off", Andy said reclining on a chair in Lily's office. "Stop calling her that." Andy glared seriously at Lily.

"Are you insane Andy?" Lily said raising her hands in defeat now. "If the agency knows about this, I could be in really big trouble and now, may I add, she's a problem for both of us and I don't have to tell you I don't want to die since she never liked me anyway."

Andy purred in her seat, "Lily stop being dramatic. She won't do anything to hurt me or you for that matter."

"Andy, wake up! She already tried to kill you..." Lily reminded her, "...twice." Lily showed her two fingers. "Miranda is an assassin. Well trained to kill. Cold blooded."

"It's not like that Lily," Andy tried to be argumentative.

"Yes it is Andy. You saw in Vegas what she can do. She has no mercy, and when she gets another chance," Lily walked closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "she won't fail."

Andy looked up at her. She just couldn't accept those cruel words, which might be the truth. "She just can't throw three years of our lives in the garbage." Andy gave Lily a sad smile.

"You have to take that bitch down, I'm telling you." Lily's voice was calm this time as if she was talking to a three year old child.

"For the last time, do not call my wife that name", Andy said raising her voice and snapped Lily's hand from her shoulder.

"She is not your wife Andy! She is a killer, an enemy", Lily yelled at her.

"Whatever Lily, I know what I have to do."

"Great. You are finally thinking with your other organ up there", Lily said pointing to her head. "Because you are going to kill her right?", she asked and Andy shrugged her shoulders.

"Wait, what does that mean?", Lily asked but Andy was already out of sight.

**-Elias-Clarke penthouse 7 PM-**

Miranda was in her office in the penthouse, ordering two agents, or more accurately, she was frightening the two agents in front of her.

The office phone rang and Serena pressed the speaker button. "Runway art department, may I help you?", she said.

"Cut the crap Serena, I know Miranda is right in front of you", Andy said and all of the people in the office looked out of the window but this time Andy was nowhere to be found.

Miranda picked the phone up.

"It seems that you finally comprehend what 7 o'clock means."

"Better late than never, right? I promise you I will never be late for dinner anymore". Andy giggled.

"Are you trying to test my patience Andrea?", Miranda asked, grimly. "You know how much that thrills me."

"I do know darling," Andy said over the phone. "I liked your new office, I always said you deserved the penthouse one, didn't I?"

"Yes you did. Thank you for your support." Miranda said faking a jolly tone.

"I'm happy when you are", Andy replied.

"This is the first and the last warning, Andrea," Miranda's tone had gone back to being cold and bitter. "Get out of town."

"Miranda, you know very well that I'm not going anywhere and you are in no position to boss me around anymore."

"Oh, well, so you say", Miranda said and covered the receiver part of the phone. "Find her now."

"Ah darling you don't have to try to find me, because I'm in a place you would never guess", Andy said.

"You are so unsurprising", Miranda said after Serena turned the screen to show her a satellite image of a _Princess 36 Riviera_ boat close to the Rikers Island.

"Your problem is that you constantly underestimate me", Andy said a little annoyed.

"Do I?" Miranda was staring at Serena who nodded to her.

"Yes you do. I'm not a little girl Miranda. I'm a woman and you should respect me the way I respect you and our history", Andy said.

"You only have a slight idea of who I am and what I'm capable of", Miranda answered to change the subject.

"Well, back _atchya_, baby."

"Stop talking like that, you don't live in a ghetto, or at least I don't think you ever did, but since you are nothing but a lie, I don't know what to think", Miranda said in her usual unreadable tone.

"Look who's talking, it's Mrs. Truth in persona", Andy shot back.

"Andrea, are you planning to visit some ex-girlfriend at the Rikers?", Miranda said still watching the monitor. "I know where you are."

"How do you know…"

"It doesn't matter", Miranda cut her off. "What matters now to you is that I have four AIM-4 Falcons, heat seeking missiles, pointed at you right now."

A second later, an agent came running into Miranda's office. "We found her, she is in a boat on course to South Brother Island", she said nearly out of breath.

"Yes. Thank you for that piece of information but you're a little late", Miranda said turning her attention back to the display.

"I don't want to hurt you Andrea. Promise to leave town, or I'll blow it."

"Hum… Let me think for a second", Andy said and hummed a song for a moment. "Ok I thought about it."

"And?" Miranda asked her.

"Send them in". It was now Andy's time to dare Miranda into action.

"What?" Miranda could not believe it.

"I said send the missiles and blow me", Andy said, "And so that you don't say that I made it difficult for you, I will stop the boat and wait for your decision."

"You think I won't?"

"I'm positive you won't." Andy stopped the motors of the boat. "I'm sure you won't kill me because you still love me, but I, in the other hand, will kill you if you keep pushing me, so your time is ending and so is my patience", Andy simply said.

"Okay. You asked for it", Miranda said. "I will count to three and press the button."

"Miranda, really, you have no balls, so spare the other agents having to hear you putting on an act. You love me, it's not a shame to admit that you are weak to your wife's charm." Andy chuckled.

"One. Two. Three. Any last words, Andrea?" Miranda asked her, sitting on her chair.

"Oh yeah, your cook sucks and the new curtains are dreadful."

"That's all, Andrea."

Serena pressed a push button on her panel and in seconds the monitors showed satellite images of the boat exploding.

"What the hell was that?", Miranda asked holding the monitor in front of her. She stood up from her chair and stared in shock at Serena.

"What?" Serena asked. "You said _that's all_."

"What did I do?" Miranda whispered to herself, closing her eyes.

On the building across Elias-Clarke, Andy was putting the remote control of the boat at her side.

"That's it! No more _nice Andy_ for you", Andy muttered under her breathe as she took the silencer off of her M110 SASS rifle that she was pointing at Miranda the whole time. But somehow, she could never pull the trigger.

**TBC…**


	10. Chapter 10

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly**

**Chapter 10**

Miranda was sitting on a bar stool, holding a double dose of a thirty year old Macallan scotch, a brand the famous Bar always had in stock just because of her. Lots of thoughts were swimming in her mind. A single tear insisted in falling from her eye. She could not let it happen. She should not feel guilty. She warned Andrea about the consequences of her actions and gave her sufficiently time to disappear, to give up. Andrea wanted to killed her. Andrea was an enemy. Andrea was a stated threat. Andrea was her love. Andrea was her everything...

Miranda was lost in her sorrowful memories when a strong but yet delicate arm that she knew very well embraced her waist and then full and warm lips brushed over her neck.

"Sorry to bother you, but is this seat empty?" Andy asked, smiling. Her lips were only a few millimeters away from Miranda's skin. Miranda could not help but close her eyes to the feeling of delight running down her body, oh how much she missed such closeness.

"Yes it is, but if you sit down, the one I'm in will be too." Miranda had answered the same thing with the same tone to the same question which had led them to make the first step to be here today again.

"You know I was having uncalculated thoughts of what to say to you when we'd meet after you tried to kill me, _again._" Andy said before nibbling on the back of her neck.

"And what marvelous thought have you decided on?" Miranda asked in a whisper. Her eyes were still closed and her flesh was burning as Andy brushed her tongue over her ear lobe.

"I want the divorce", Andy said almost murmuring. Then, she let go of Miranda's body. Miranda felt the sudden absence of the unique warmness of Andy's body on her.

"Perfect." Miranda gave as an answer now turning her attention to Andy who was sitting on the leather bar stool next to hers. "Our history started here so it has agreeable symmetry to end it the same way", Miranda finished and put her finger on the trigger of her _Kahr P380_ inside her Prada handbag.

"Hey Andy, you want the usual champagne cocktail?" Davis, the barman, asked her.

"No thank you Davis, champagne is for celebration", Andy said, also putting her finger on the trigger of her _Glock G27_ in the pocket of her leather D&G jacket. "I will have a tequila shot."

"What about you, Mrs. Priestly?" he asked Miranda.

"I'm fine." Miranda answered without leaving her eyes off Andy.

"You look amazing in that dress", Andy honestly commented Miranda's black dress.

"I was absolutely positive that I had become a widow today, so I was mourning", Miranda replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Andy faked a sad face.

"What do you want Andrea?" Miranda's tone was back to cold and acid.

"We have a mutual problem, Miranda. I guess you want me dead." Andy pointed with a smile.

"See, you are not as stupid and naïve as I thought," Miranda said, knowing her words would cause Andy to be hurt. She could see it in her eyes, but Andy quickly came back into the game. "You could not have guessed better. I'm done playing games with you."

"You're right. You are indeed too _old_ to play games, right?" Andy whispered close to Miranda's ear again.

Andy knew very well how to hurt Miranda the most. Her pride was the key. One of Miranda's biggest concern in the beginning of their relationship was that Andy would realize she was too old for her and leave.

"And how do we solve that common problem?" Miranda asked her and took a sip of her drink. Unfortunately, the fine scotch had no miracle power to make Andy's words untrue.

"You tell me, or I can shoot you right here and go to our home and sleep because I'm getting tired of that cat and mouse pursuit", Andy said to her. With a wink, she raised her tequila before drinking it in one swig.

"I don't think so darling, but that's a shame because if I kill you now, I would not be welcome here anymore and I like this place."

A nice song by the Brazilian singer Vanessa da Mata, a duet with Ben Harper named Good Luck started to play in the Bar.

"C'mon, dance with me", Andy said. She took her hand out of her pocket and offered it to Miranda.

"I don't dance Andrea", Miranda said not taking her hand.

"With me you do," Andy smiled to her, "and you always enjoyed it", she tried again and this time Miranda took her hand and stood up from the stool.

Holding hands, they walked to the little dance floor in the back of the bar.

"Do you think our story will have a happy ending?" Andy asked holding Miranda by her waist.

They were moving together until Andy pressed Miranda's back hard against the column and she lost her balance for a moment.

"I don't believe in fairy tales, Andrea", Miranda said as she regained her composure.

"I used to believe in ours", Andy said as she looked into Miranda's piercing blue eyes. She was dying to say that she _still_ believed it, but Miranda's impassive stare discouraged her.

"Your Pollyanna _Complex_ doesn't work in real world Andrea", Miranda said in a sad tone and her hands started to roam on Andy's body. She found a Shuriken star strapped on her back and threw it at a door.

"Happy now?" Andy asked as she started to move down Miranda's body. She stopped for a second to stare at her full breasts and remembered the times when she could make Miranda have an orgasm just by sucking on them. She continued her search with her hands up Miranda's thigh and took a gun from a holster. She put it in the pocket of a man dancing behind her.

"Not yet", Miranda replied bringing Andy back on her feet and took the gun from her pocket. In one neat move, she was able to put the gun inside an ice bucket in the corner.

They continued moving at the pace of the song. The lyrics of the song fitted like a glove with their actual experience. Miranda's hands were on Andy's chest, squeezing her breasts and she could feel her nipples becoming harder beneath the repulsive white t-shirt.

"That is all Andy baby, and you know it", Andy winking at her. She was slowly caressing Miranda's arms. "When do you think we started to lose each other?" Andy asked in a serious tone now.

"When we started to lead our lives in separate ways and lying?" Miranda answered, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

"I have a theory", Andy said. Her hand rested on Miranda's lower back, pressing their body together while Miranda's right hand was possessively holding her neck.

"I'm thrilled to hear it."

"You ruined our relationship", Andy said hastily.

"Oh did I?"

"Yes, when the excitement of our beginning faded you never fought for us to stay strong, to work on our problems. But it seems you used me as a perfect cover. So why bother, right?" Andy asked close to Miranda's lips.

"You were the one who handled our marriage as a job, a mission you had to accomplish. And besides it takes two people to build or ruin a relationship", Miranda told her and moved her cheek to meet Andy's. Being so close to the mouth of the woman she loved was too dangerous.

"You are no saint, Miranda", Andy said facing her again.

"Neither are you, Andrea", Miranda declared holding Andy's neck tight. "I was just a cover for you as well, right?"

"My feelings for you were always honest, completely different from yours."

Andy stopped dancing and locked eyes with Miranda, her right hand tracing Miranda's jaw line. How could this woman become more beautiful every time Andy laid eyes on her?

"For you, I was nothing more than some stupid naïve girl, right?"

Recognizing that the answer that Miranda was about to give her might not be the one she expected, Andy's heart broke. She was terrified, but she needed that answer.

"How can you be so sure of that?", Miranda asked her, forcing Andy to move along the rhythm of the song again. She could see the fear right through Andy's chocolate eyes, but she could not let Andy see the same in hers.

"You don't treat me like I wasn't, like you care about me, ..." Andy stopped dancing again and looked intensely into Miranda's sapphire eyes, "...like you love me", Andy said the last part barely audibly.

Miranda stared at her for a few seconds and broke the gaze. "Will you excuse me", Miranda said.

This situation was becoming out of hand. She was supposed to intimidate Andy into surrendering and not succumb to her.

She tried to pass by Andy but Andy took a step ahead. She needed to ask, she needed to know the truth, and more importantly, she deserved to know because not knowing would drive her mad, and since her fears were already so visible, all the walls she had built to face Miranda today were already down, she couldn't go back.

"Do you... do you still love me?" Andy asked holding Miranda wrist.

Miranda looked down to Andy's hand on hers, _they fit so well together_, she thought.

"I..." she hesitated. She considered the damage her answer could do to them right at this instant. She wanted to jump in Andy's arms and hungrily kiss her until her lips felt sore but she couldn't, she just couldn't risk it now.

Andy contemplated their options as well. This pause permitted her to have hope that Miranda was still as much in love with her as she was herself but she would break if Miranda said she didn't love her anymore or worse, if she said that she never did. Hearing those words would mean that there was nothing more left for them to fight for after today and that killing each other was the only option.

Miranda lazily looked up from Andy's hand to her eyes.

"You know the answer", Miranda said softly. "I don't…" she trailed off again.

Andy winced. She could feel Miranda's pulse getting stronger under her fingertips.

'She doesn't… _know_,' Andy repeated in her mind. 'Is that what she wanted to say?' she asked herself while her eyes pleaded at Miranda. Not knowing meant that there was still hope. It was better than the certainty of not being loved anymore. Certainty was final, like death.

Miranda tried to push her arm away from Andy as if her touch was burning her skin. She needed to get away from her or she would give in. "Let me go", she whispered finally letting go of Andy's grip and headed to the restroom.

"There is no way out this time Miranda", Andy said after her, trying to make her heart beat at a normal pace.

Andy continued to follow Miranda with her eyes.

"Stop being a fool Andy. She was just using you, and she still is", Andy whispered to herself. "She just said she didn't love you. Didn't she?"

Not even a minute later, a huge explosion could be heard in the restroom, causing a turmoil in the Bar. Andy only shook her head with a smile over her lips. She knew the cause of all of this, or better yet, she knew who caused all this.

She ran in the restroom against the tide of all the people coming in her direction but as soon as she scanned back to the main door of the Bar, a wave of grey hair caught her attention. Miranda looked back raising an eyebrow to her and a satisfactory smile over her face.

"Fuck," Andy murmured running outside the Bar, but there was no sight of Miranda anymore.

"Andy, you are making a funny noise", Davis told her and he started to giggle.

Andy rapidly took off her Jacket and threw it in the garbage in front of the Bar and as soon as she did that, the garbage can exploded and Davis jumped on the floor to protect himself, frightened of what he had just seen.

Andy immediately ran to the corner to get her car but it was nowhere to be found.

"Now I'm pissed", Andy said and took her cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans. She called and told Lily to send her a vehicle and then she called her phone car.

"Andrea Priestley's car", Miranda answered the phone in the most natural way.

"Ha ha very funny Miranda, I can't believe you stole my car", Andy said indignant.

"If I'm not mistaken, mine was found today completely ruined and it was your entire fault", Miranda reminded her. "And besides, I gave you that car."

"It's the fourth time you've tried to kill me in three days", Andy said pacing from side to side in the alley.

"And you never die?" Miranda asked her. "Don't be so dramatic, it was just a little present."

"You ruined a brand new D&G Jacket, do you know that? The one I liked the most", Andy said making it sound like what Miranda had just said about a bomb was a trivial thing and that her jacket was the important issue here.

"I gave you that jacket as well", Miranda replied. "It seems that I gave you a lot of things, didn't I?"

"Yes, except good orgasms for quite some time", Andy replied playfully.

"You can be so rude, Andrea."

"Do me a favor before I kill you? Call Emily right now and tell her to send me another jacket", Andy said still pacing.

"I will make sure you wear it at your funeral", Miranda replied.

"Oh really? So when do we face our differences?"Andy asked.

"It all depends on you darling. And your desire to die sooner or later. When do you want to die? Tonight? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow?" Miranda said, almost quoting a line from a movie that she had watched with Andy and the twins some time ago. In the movie, the lady with a yellow outfit was almost as good as she was with a samurai sword.

"How about tonight?" Andy suggested.

"Wonderful. Where?" Miranda asked.

"Since you're my beloved wife, I will let you decide", Andy said glancing over to her watch. _Where the hell is my backup_, she thought.

"You can admit you are scared, I will give you a chance so you can collect all of your belongings from our house and leave", Miranda gave her the choice.

"You know what Miranda, I don't want to have anything related to you, so I'm going to the Hamptons to burn every single memory I have of you and of our marriage." Andy kicked the wall in front of her.

"Fantastic, I will meet you there then."

"Fine, because I will burn that car too and I hope you will be in it", Andy said angry.

"Fine", Miranda said disconnecting the phone.

Fifteen minutes later, Andy was already sitting on a red _BMW k1200S_ bike. As soon as she put her _Shoei_ helmet, she called her car again.

"Where are my girls?" she asked when Miranda answered the phone. "I called Cassidy's cell and someone said they are not allowed to talk to me anymore, is this true?"

"They are in a safe place away from you", Miranda informed her.

"Why?" Andy asked with hurt evident in her voice.

"I was afraid you could have done something to them to get me," she said in a whisper.

"Miranda, how could you think so low of me?" Andy asked incredulously. "I would never, ever, do anything to hurt them. I would die to protect them if I had to. I love them as my own children", Andy told her and Miranda believed her. Her twins had never been so happy before Andy came into their lives.

"They love you very much as well", Miranda said to her.

"But you don't", Andy said not as a question but as an affirmative.

"Are you some kind of masochist? I already told you, I don't…", Miranda trailed off again before she could finish her sentence and closed her eyes for a moment not paying attention to the road anymore.

"What was I really to you? A mission? A cover? A pastime?" Andy asked her. She still had hope.

"For me, you were only business, Andrea, nothing more", Miranda said and her heart felt like breaking.

"Are you serious?" Andy asked. Damn helmet, she would have to drive with tears in her eyes now.

"I have never been more serious in my entire life", Miranda said taking deep breaths to each word. Her heart was fighting with her mouth for silence. She knew that what she was doing was like sticking a finger in an open wound but she had to do it, she could not afford to fail her mission once again.

"I thought I was different. I thought we were a family". Andy still wanted to convince Miranda.

Denial.

"Well, once again you're wrong. You should not be surprised Andrea. You have known me well from the beginning, you remember Paris and what I did to Nigel. I do what I have to do to get my interests and my missions accomplished." That was the final stab in Andy's heart.

"Thank you Miranda, you just made my decisions a lot easier", Andy said. She was clearly taken aback by Miranda's cold words. No more hope for them. Was it all a lie? Three years and seven months of her life that she always thought was the only honest and true part of her for as long as she could remember was nothing but another lie.

"You're welcome Andrea", Miranda said and waited for Andy to be the first to disconnect the phone.

"Maybe when you finally accomplish this mission and lose me," Andy said in a sad tone, "you will value what we had, my love for you and you will be able to understand what you lost, but then it will be too late, right? Because one of us will be dead", Andy finished and disconnected the phone and Miranda could not help but fight back the urge to cry.

As soon as they hang up, Miranda's cell started to vibrate in her pocket.

"Yes", Miranda answered in a low voice.

"Miranda, something bad happened," Serena started, "Roy was found terribly hurt, he was shot in the chest and he is in the ICU," Serena continued and Miranda gasped. "The doctors do not seem optimist", she finished.

"Who did it?" Miranda asked. She could feel her blood boil in her veins.

"Our intelligence service said it was the same person as in Vegas", Serena informed her.

Now was the moment of the truth. Now it did not matter for them who will win because, in the end, both will lose.

**TBC…**


	11. Chapter 11

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly**

**Chapter 11**

Miranda was almost reaching their West Hampton's house when the roar of a bike got her undivided attention. She didn't even need to look at the side mirror to know who was right behind her and waving at her.

As soon as they reached Loft Ave. Andy tried to pass in front of her but Miranda blocked her out almost throwing her out of the road, Andy took her helmet off and threw it at the back window of the car crushing part of it immediately. Two houses before their own, at Fiske Ave, Andy tried again to pass but Miranda swerved the car to the side and Andy skidded until she hit the bush fence of their neighbors' house.

Andy stood up from the floor and ran across the neighbors' front lawn until she reached the bushes that separated the two properties. She crawled under them and then entered her pool house. She unlocked a covert toolbox but found it empty. From the window she could see that her car was parked just outside the house with the lights on and, as soon as she looked at their bedroom window on the second floor, she saw Miranda looking outside with two guns in her hands.

Andy walked out of the pool house and craftily kept her back close to the bushes trying to camouflage her body, not without difficulty though, since the fence was full of thorns. She reached the lateral door of the main house and slid in the half-opened window of the living room. Things were just too easy so far.

Inside the house, Miranda was still inspecting the second floor with an silenced H&K UMP .45 in her hand and a Fabarm SDASS Tactical over her shoulder. She stopped for a moment and grunted when she had to tear up the side of her dress so she could have more mobility while running. She went to their bedroom. That bed had witnessed so many good memories and now everything was gone... She continued her search and walked by the twins' bedroom and guest bedrooms and was calmly walking the corridors now so she could reach the stairs down to the living room.

Andy was crawling in the living room; quickly, she reached the fireplace, pushed the stand for the fireplace tools to the side revealing a hiding place that had two shurikin stars and a suppressed Beretta 92G with two magazines with fifteen rounds each. She filled the gun with one and put the other magazine in her back pocket and, as soon as she turned around, Miranda had started to walk down the stairs, she only had time to jump inside the fireplace when three shots from the shotgun came in her direction making big holes on the pictures hanged there.

"I didn't know you were also Mamma Claus," Miranda said before reloading the gun.

"Shit Miranda," Andy yelled from inside.

"Are you hurt, darling?" Miranda ironically asked. "Come out so I can take care of you," she proposed and Andy started to moan as if she had been shot.

Miranda automatically lowered her guard putting the gun to the side with a concerned face. Andy run fast out of the fireplace shooting at the stairs and Miranda rolled down the stairs over to the corner of the intermediate landing, losing one of her Alexandre Birman heels in the process. Miranda shot more 4 rounds of bullets in Andy's direction making holes in the walls and the piano as Andy ran out the living room trying to reach the TV room.

"My girls will be devastated, look at what you made me do to their piano," Miranda said looking at what was left of the destroyed piano.

"They'll be thanking me for a year for that, they hate playing it, and just for the record, they are _our_ girls," Andy yelled at her.

Miranda took her other heel off and came down the stairs aiming at the hallway. Andy was changing the magazine of her gun while cruising the other hallway when Miranda started to shot with the UMP .45 in her direction again but only hit the huge LCD TV and a vase that was close to it.

"Fuck Miranda that was my auntie´s present for our wedding," Andy yelled at her, while hiding behind the loveseat.

"I never liked that tacky piece of clay anyway," Miranda snapped back.

Andy stood and shot in her direction once more but Miranda was able to run and hide in the hallway that separates the TV room from the kitchen but Andy shot the Fabergé egg and a Qianlong vase in tiny pieces.

"Are you crazy? Those were gifts from my first husband and they cost a fortune," Miranda said frustrated looking at the destroyed pieces.

"Another good reason then," Andy yelled as she picked a little piece of glass from her arm.

The house was so dark that it was difficult to walk around the place and, as soon as Andy used the other door to get out of the TV room, she bumped into a crystal closet and a few glasses crashed against the floor making Miranda aware of her location and once again creating holes in the wall while Andy was running desperately trying not be shot. She jumped on the ground when she reached the kitchen and shot in Miranda´s direction as well. The furniture was turning more and more into trash with each round of shots from both parts.

Miranda then traded guns and was now using the suppressed UMP .45, once again aiming inside the kitchen but Andy protected herself from the bullets by opening the fridge door and hiding behind it. A fragment of a bullet hit her hand and she dropped her gun on the floor. Now, she only had the titanium stars to use. Andy took one of them and threw it at Miranda but she quickly used the collapsible of the rifle to protect her face from the attack.

"I really don't understand how you can be an agent and still have an aim that bad. I don't want to offend you too much so I won't say that your shooting skills are as bad as your cooking," Andy joked as she escaped by the other door of the kitchen in a frantic search for some kind of weapon she could use.

Andy was again in the living room and jumped over the sofa to reach the two samurai swords that were hanging on a wall. She just wished that they were real and not just ornamental objects. Either way, she was not sure how she could stop a bullet with a sword.

Miranda walked into the living room again. She looked around the room, scanning the perimeter. She stopped when she saw Andy close to the sofa holding the swords.

"Do you even know how to use one of those?" Miranda had an air of arrogance.

"We watched Kill Bill together with the girls, remember?" Andy asked with a smile and Miranda slightly nodded, "I think I can do some of those moves," Andy finished playing with the swords in her hands.

"Yes Andrea, it's exactly like a movie, follow that thought and we will be done earlier than I planned."

"It's like using a kitchen knife, shouldn't be that hard using it to rip your heart apart," Andy answered.

"I will be fair to you Andrea," Miranda said and put her gun on the floor, "give me one," she said and waiting for Andy's answer.

Andy studied Miranda's attitude: she was giving up the chance to shoot her and finish her mission. Was that a good sign? She didn't have time to be emotional right now, Miranda was an enemy and loving an enemy was simply not an option.

Miranda snorted, she was becoming impatient, "what are you waiting for?"

Andy came out of her trance and threw one of the swords to Miranda who caught it with one hand and with an astonishing dexterity.

"This is not just a sword, Andrea. It's a samurai orchid sword, especially made for me."

Miranda took the sword from the _saya_ and admired the blade.

The blade of the orchid sword has a different shade, to distract the opponent from the sole purpose. Kill.

"This blade makes penetrating stab wounds like nothing you ever saw. Whether against armored or unarmored opponents, a thrust has long been recognized as being more difficult to defend against, easier to deliver a fatal wound with, and quicker and farther reaching than a _knife_." Miranda felt that having to explain all this to Andy was almost a crime, a sacrilege, like comparing an orchid sword with a butcher´s knife.

Andy continued to pay attention to Miranda's words.

"It's one of the most beautiful and lethal weapons that I ever had the honor to use."

Miranda looked into Andy's eyes, and Andy breathed in surprise, she finally understood the speech Miranda gave to her during their honeymoon, when she first showed her tattooed orchid on the back of her neck. It's an analogy; an orchid can be beautiful and deadly.

"Do you think I'm honored to use that?" Andy asked taking her own sword out from the _saya_.

"No you're not, but you will die from one, and that is a privilege, it's almost an honor."

"So you don't think I have honor?" Andy smiled sadly.

"A person with honor does not kill someone they used to call a friend." Miranda had a sad smile on her face as well when thoughts of Roy came to her mind and the possibility of him being dead by now.

"What? What are you talking about?" Andy asked confused.

"Enough of your lies, enough," Miranda let out and walked close to Andy. The sword now ready to be put in action.

"What are the rules?" Andy asked trying to get used to the weight of the sword in her hand.

Miranda let out a small chuckle, "the only rule here is for you to die as fast as possible."

"Hum, sorry but I will try to break that rule then," Andy flashed her famous smile. Miranda used to be vulnerable to it and if she was honest to herself, it still worked.

Watching Miranda hold the sword with only one hand and holding the _saya_ in the other hand, Andy decided to copy the movement. She had her wrist not lined up with the blade handle, it felt better in her hand and that was the first mistake Miranda noticed. It was clear to her that this was the first time Andy held a sword in her hands and Miranda made it up in her mind that it would be the last time too.

They circled each other like two scorpions, both trying to read the first move of the other until Miranda attacked first and swung the sword with the ability of a real samurai. Andy could only defend herself from the blade passing very close to vital parts of her body. The impact was so intense that Andy lost the control of her sword, wincing in pain, before putting the sword in her other hand. Andy closed and opened her right fist several times in effort to make the throbbing pain go away.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is this too much for you?" Miranda asked with nothing but sarcasm in her voice. She well knew how hard it was to control a sword.

"Not really, c'mon, show me what you can do," Andy teased her, bringing the sword once again to her right hand.

"You wouldn't be ready for that, not even in a million years," Miranda smiled and came in for the second attack.

Tightening the little finger and the third finger strongly, and then tightening the middle finger a bit, Andy tried to slightly raise her thumb and forefinger holding the sword with both hands this time. Now she felt that the sword was more firmly in her hands, no looseness in the grip as Miranda banged her at least five times. But, again, she made a mistake, she was putting too much strength in her shoulders preventing her from attacking and defending the way she needed with the right swing of the hips.

Miranda turned the orchid sword sideways, holding Andy´s sword up and using the _saya_ in her left hand to hit Andy´s ribcage, as she thrust in with the _saya_ hitting Andy's side and under her arm in one fluid motion. Miranda then hit her stomach and knee and pushed Andy backwards, freeing her sword once again.

Andy went down on her knee holding her stomach, "Gezzz, when is the bell of the end of the first round gonna ding?" Andy tried to joke but inside she was about to collapse.

A few minutes and several bruises later, Andy was clearly exhausted, the pain in her hands was visible, but as the fast learner that she was, she was trying to anticipate Miranda's attack, she noticed how Miranda got the grip on the sword and how easily it was for her to swing her hips on each attack and how well she moved executing even simple actions.

"You know, I don't think I was never this turned on in a fight like I am right now with you," Andy flashed a smile at Miranda who narrowed her eyes at her terrible timing for jokes. "What? It's not my fault that I have such a beautiful woman as my wife."

"I'm not your wife anymore Andrea," Miranda said sharply.

"Yes you are. Till death do us apart."

This time Andy decided to attack first, in a fit of anger and frustration she decided to change her technique, she already knew she was not able to swing fast when the strength goes into her shoulder, so she transferred the power from the shoulder to her hands and swung the sword ahead in side movements hitting the target, the blades got into contact several times as they moved around the living room in a perfect ballet.

Miranda could say Andy was improving, and she couldn't stop thinking that with the right training and dedication Andy could become an excellent warrior and dominate the art of sword fighting almost as good as herself but right now she was far from that, Miranda was not even using 20% of what she was capable of and was using the _saya_ most of the time to hit Andy´s body, only using the sword to defend herself never to complete an attack, something inside her was not able to cut into Andy´s body with the fine metal.

Lost in her thoughts, Miranda didn't pay much attention when Andy held the sword with both hands. At this time, the orbit of the sword passed through the center of her body and she tightened her little finger and the third finger strongly while swinging down holding Miranda's sword up in the air between them. Their eyes locked and they could almost breathe the same air.

In a quick motion, Andy's right hand let go from the sword and went in contact with Miranda's left cheek, the sound of the slap terrified both of them.

Miranda promptly pushed Andy back again, the taste of blood filling her sense and the corner of her mouth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to do that," Andy desperately tried to apologize, but why should she do that? She was defending herself from an enemy that wanted to kill her.

The love of her life wanted her dead. Period.

Andy didn't have much time to think about that, she had to cover her ass and do it fast. Miranda threw the _saya_ on the floor and held her orchid sword with both hands, her face was fuming with anger.

'_Things are about to become very ugly_,' Andy thought.

No one could ever deny that Miranda inherently had a tactical advantage in attitude and fortitude as a result of the high psychological level of her preparation and fighting techniques. She knew she mastered unarmed techniques into her repertoire as well as having a keen sense of an opponent's strengths and weaknesses, even if that opponent was her wife and the only person she ever loved. She was not ready, not yet at least, to move directly into Andy´s space and make a devastating cut, puncturing through the head, throat, or chest as a result. Instead she decided to continue with her light attack, she still wasn't ready to see Andy lifeless against her.

A few more seconds had passed and Andy relaxed once again. If she survived this, she would spend the next three days in a Jacuzzi full of bubbles in an attempt to make the pain in her body disappear. How wonderful would it be if Miranda could be there with her too.

"You´re slow baby. You are only good at shooting hearts with guns?" Andy asked smiling as she blocked another attack, "but not so good with a one on one huh?" she finished as Miranda´s fist passed close to her eye this time.

"I'm in no rush Andrea, I just need to hit you one more time in the right place and your heart is mine," Miranda said back, not really paying attention to the extent of her words.

"My heart is already yours Miranda, always has been," Andy said smiling and vacillated for a moment and Miranda took that chance pressing her two fingers right on Andy´s chest.

Andy tumbled on the ground, letting the sword escape from her hand, she put her hand on her chest as it tightened in pain because of the lack of oxygen.

"What did you do?" Andy asked gasping for air.

"I cut the flux of blood to your heart and brain and hopefully you will be dead in about two minutes, so tell me why did you do it?" Miranda asked as she walked in circles around Andy´s motionless body.

"Why I did what?" Andy was able to let out. It was becoming rather difficult to breathe, she could feel her heart and brain begging for oxygen.

"Why would you do this to him? He always liked you."

"I don't know what you are talking about," she whispered, a thick trail of blood coming out of her nose.

"You shot him, in cold blood." Miranda looked intensely at Andy´s brown eyes trying to read them, but she knew she couldn't trust her guts when it came to Andy. She had lied to her all this time, she had fooled Miranda and that could ever happen again.

"Who?" Andy tried again. he could feel her body giving up, her blood pressure decreasing and her heart beating faster trying to pump the blood.

"Don't play this game with me, you know I'm talking about Roy, you killed him." Miranda closed her eyes. Saying out loud that Roy was dead was making it real.

"I didn't. I know how much Roy is important to you, I love you, I would… never do that to you." Andy´s chest was heavy. Death was near, she could sense its presence.

In a quick motion, Miranda undid the movement on Andy´s chest making her breathe again.

"Stand up," Miranda said as she threw Andy´s sword on her. "Fight me," she ordered.

"No," Andy whispered as she held onto the sofa for support trying to stand on her feet. She was taking deep breaths in attempt to fill her lungs with air and to make the dizzy feeling go away.

"Fight me." Miranda's sword passed close to Andy's left arm who managed to dodge it by moving to the right.

"No, I already lost you and my girls. There is nothing more left that I want to live for, Miranda. Especially if I have to kill you," Andy said honestly as she wiped her bloody nose with the back of her hand.

"Take the sword Andrea, and fight me, you will die with honor." Miranda shoved the sword on Andy's chest making Andy hold it.

"I don't want to fight, Miranda. Not anymore." Andy put the sword down by her feet.

"You will fight. Take the damn sword." Miranda said in a low and cold tone. Andy didn't remember having ever heard Miranda swear.

"You want to kill me? Then do it, I've hated fighting since I was fourteen. I'm tired of fighting, and believe me, without you and the girls I have no desire to live anymore," Andy said quietly and knelt down, "do it, please do it, complete your mission," she opened her arms in surrender.

"Enough of your act," Miranda´s tone was sharp.

Miranda couldn't deny that seeing Andy on her knees looking so broken was devastating her, and why was Andy fighting since she was fourteen? She was barely a teenager, was she recruited in the program that young? Miranda couldn't think about that now. Right now, she only understood that they were strangers to each other, they knew nothing about each other's past so how could she believe in Andy after everything? It was just too much damage, too much pain. And too much love.

"I love you, don't you ever doubt that," Andy´s eyes blurred with unshed tears. "I'm not afraid of telling you that I love you. If this is the end, then I'm ready to die in order for you to live."

"Stop saying lies to me, I don't believe you, I can't believe you," Miranda whispered the last part and held her sword in position and moved the blade over Andy's heart. She would make sure Andy didn't suffer for much time.

TBC…


	12. Chapter 12

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly**

**Chapter 12**

Andy closed her eyes at the proximity between the blade and her heart but she refused to back away. The end was inevitable.

"Open your eyes," Miranda said firmly and Andy looked up. She didn't want to die looking at Miranda's eyes, but she did it anyway.

"Do it," Andy repeated.

The silver haired woman just stayed there with the tip of her sword pressed against Andy´s chest and Andy could tell Miranda was struggling inside.

"You don't want to do this, do you?"

"Why are you doing this to me?" Miranda's voice was fragile, barely audible. "Why can't I kill you?"

"Because you love me as I much as I love you," Andy answered.

In a slow motion, so Miranda would not take it as an attack, Andy pushed the blade away from her chest and stood up on her feet. They were staring at each other. Andy held Miranda's wrist and quickly stepped forward, pressing their bodies together. Miranda let the sword fall on the floor behind Andy and a second later their lips were crashing together in a kiss that was not just a simple kiss, it was angry, hungry, full of hurt and desperation. Full of need and desire.

Both were trying to express their sorrow, their fear but especially their love and how much they were missing this.

Andy nuzzled her nose against Miranda´s delicious neck and whispered in her ear, "I need to feel you, let me love you," Andy´s voice was dripping of desire and passion. The only answer she received from Miranda was a soft moan. Andy pressed her full bruised lips on against her wife´s once again and traced Miranda's bottom lip with her tongue asking permission for more. Miranda simply opened her mouth granting Andy access. Miranda's lips were now sucking on her tongue giving Andy a little preview of what was to come. And she loved it.

Andy let a throaty moan escape her lips as she felt Miranda´s hand move to grab her breasts. The touch was not gentle, it was urgent, needy, it felt like they had been separated for years from each other, and quite frankly that was absolutely the truth.

Not wanting to waste any time herself, Andy searched for Miranda's breasts too and ripped Miranda's already ruined dress apart. At this, Miranda stopped her assault on Andy´s body and their eyes met for a second. Andy had just ripped a two thousand dollar dress but the wicked smile on Andy's face was worth so much more. Miranda forgot about money as soon as Andy´s mouth started to suck and bite her neck up to her jaw line making Miranda´s knees go weak. She was not so invulnerable to that woman after all. Andy felt the same but she was able to hold Miranda up and guide her backwards to the wall for support.

Reaching the wall, Miranda pulled her mouth away from Andy´s, they needed to breathe. Miranda had her hands on Andy's sides, she couldn't let go, she didn't want to ever let go. Andy shook off her boots and smiled at her wife again and Miranda took the hint, she started to unbutton Andy's Gucci jeans letting them fall on the floor, revealing a small black thong and perfect legs.

Andy couldn't wait any longer, she needed Miranda and she needed her now. Andy finished tearing Miranda's dress and left her only in her matching set of La Perla bra and silk underwear.

"God, you're beautiful," Andy managed to say at the sight of Miranda's perfect exposed body right in front of her.

Oh how Andy missed seeing Miranda like this, vulnerable, desperate and she could bet Miranda was ready for her. Andy´s mouth watered just by thinking how wet Miranda must already be for her and once again she crashed her lips with Miranda's.

Andy turned Miranda around so that her front was pressed against the wall. She knew that Miranda liked to be teased, that she liked to be taken to the extreme before she could reach the edge of her climax; but today, this was not going to happen, maybe later though, but right now, Andy had other plans for them.

Andy begun to lick from Miranda's ear to the back of her neck, down her shoulders and shoulder blades leaving love bites along the way. She wanted Miranda to feel that their passion, their desire for each other, was still there. Andy unhooked Miranda's bra, letting it fall on the floor, close to the discarded jeans. Then her left hand cupped Miranda's breast, taking a hard nipple between her fingers. The only sound Miranda was able to make was another audible groan.

Andy put one of her legs between Miranda's, forcing them apart, and in a quick motion, she rounded Miranda's waist and roughly ripped off the side of Miranda's panties. In a blink of an eye, her right hand was going down, passing Miranda's soft, trimmed golden hair and reaching the treasure destination. Miranda whimpered at the contact, she tried to move away from the touch but Andy´s full body on her back didn't let her move an inch, and without any further ado, Andy penetrated Miranda with two long, slender and talented fingers so deep that Miranda cried out in ecstasy and in pain. Andy continued to fuck her senseless with Miranda moving her body to meet each thrust of the fingers inside her. Andy couldn't neglect Miranda's engorged clitoris so she made sure her thumb massaged the tip of Miranda's clit each time her fingers filled Miranda's core.

Andy´s fingers inside Miranda were making her crazy, but she needed more, she needed to feel what Andy was feeling, and two could play this game. Without warning, Miranda reached back with her left hand and slid it into the waistband of Andy´s underwear making Andy back away with surprise, but a second later she returned to her previous position, with her front pressed into Miranda's back and Miranda's hand now in full contact with her warm wetness.

God, this was madness. Pure madness.

Andy held her left leg up against the wall granting Miranda full access to her wet folds. They were moving in perfect sync. For each thrust of Andy´s fingers deep inside her wife, she felt the same proportion of power inside her own pussy. Andy could feel Miranda was close. Her insides were clenching around her fingers and she was sure she was sending the same message to Miranda; she could feel her own pussy contracting trying to keep Miranda's fingers within her.

Their breathing was shallow. Andy's eyes were closed and her mouth was sucking on Miranda's neck. She was sure a mark would be left and she knew Miranda was not a big fan of love marks like this, but she couldn't help herself. As soon as Miranda took her hand away from her breast and started to suck two of Andy´s fingers into her mouth, Andy was sure she would be forgiven for the bites.

This was becoming too much, Andy was about to come and she wanted Miranda to come with her. Andy then curled her fingers inside of Miranda to reach the spot she knew would make Miranda absolutely wild. Not long after, both were whispering each other's names as their bodies tensed and they could enjoy the waves of their orgasms.

It was incredible. After so long, this was like their first time making love, but that was not enough. Both wanted more, so much more. The desire and the need were almost unbearable.

Andy turned Miranda again to face her and their mouths found their ways back together in a searing kiss.

Andy pulled Miranda against her body and started to move both of them backwards so they could reach the couch. Andy laid Miranda on the sofa and covered her body with her own, their mouths were still in contact but now the kiss was gentler, soulful and having Miranda moaning into her mouth was everything Andy needed right at that moment.

"I've missed you," Miranda said into the kiss. Andy backed away a little so she could see Miranda's eyes and everything just melted away because she could see right through Miranda's shining blue eyes. It was still there.

Love. Pure and simple, love.

"I missed you too, I've missed us," Andy whispered back as she squeezed Miranda's nipples between her fingers once again and Miranda only pulled her down again into a passionate kiss.

After a few heated minutes, Andy backed away again, they desperately needed to breathe if they wanted to stay alive. Andy´s full lips were bruised and swollen, her brown eyes were a shade of black from such a state of arousal. Andy put her leg between Miranda's, she could feel the heat of Miranda's wetness on her leg and Miranda moaned in agreement, arched her back to make Andy´s leg have more contact with her drenched center. Andy´s lips began to kiss and nibble Miranda's throat and torso while her finger played with a nipple.

"You feel so good," Andy said taking the nipple into her mouth and sucking it with hunger. Miranda was about to come just from that touch but Andy wanted more and it was not time for that yet.

"This feels good," Miranda's voice was raspy with lust.

"Do you want to go to our bed?" Andy asked still busy teasing Miranda's breast with her mouth.

The sofa was partially destroyed and probably was not be the best option to reconnect with your partner after everything they had gone through for the past months.

"I don't think I can wait for this any longer," Miranda answered quickly, her body was screaming for release. "Please Andrea, this is torture," Miranda begged taking hold of Andy´s silken hair in effort to make her accomplish her mission of pleasure.

The Miranda who wanted to make a hole in her chest less than an hour ago was gone and she was replaced by the woman with whom she had always been in love, but Andy knew that if she wanted this to work between them again, she had to accept that Miranda had and probably always would have a dark twisted side and so did Andy.

"Take this off," Miranda said and started to remove Andy´s shirt.

Andy stood up on her feet and quickly took off her shirt and her already ruined, soaked underwear and returned to her previous position with her leg between Miranda's legs. Their bodies melted together. Miranda's hands were roaming on Andy's back and, with a squeeze on her ass, she pressed Andy closer. They were moving in sync. It was urgent and intense as skilled hands and starving mouths continued to explore the places that both of them had missed so much. Tonight, though, they were going to revive everything, and make new memories.

"I need to taste you Miranda. I want to make you come in my mouth," Andy quietly murmured close to Miranda's ear as she sucked her earlobe. That was enough to make Miranda quiver in response to those words, she could feel warm wetness making its way down her thighs.

Andy sat up on the couch and then slid down on her knees, kissing the valley between Miranda's breasts, she continued her assault, nibbling and licking down her stomach and soon she reached the belly button and let her tongue move in and out of the small erogenous hole.

Andy looked into Miranda's eyes again, somehow she couldn't stop herself from seeing satisfaction written all over Miranda's face.

"Are you wet for me Miranda?" Andy asked with her famous smile.

"You will have to find out yourself," was all Miranda was able to formulate.

Andy then opened Miranda legs further apart and gently kissed her inner thigh closer to her center, making Miranda rock her hips from the sofa desperately seeking more contact with Andy´s mouth. Andy wanted to continue torturing her, she knew Miranda wanted to feel her tongue plunging deep inside of her and this teasing attitude was a torture for Andy as well. Andy opened Miranda's labia with two fingers and let out a moan, she couldn't believe how wet Miranda was at this point and she wanted to lick it all clean. She looked like Charlie Bucket when he first walked into the chocolate factory. Andy licked her lips in anticipation as she continued to play, running her fingers up and down her wife´s swollen lips and occasionally touching her clitoris and Miranda whimpered, she needed more and she needed it now.

Miranda took hold of Andy´s hand and without any forewarning, she inserted two fingers deep inside of herself. Andy moaned as she did not expect this reaction from Miranda, but she did not complain. It felt so good, so right, she belonged there. They belonged together.

Andy buried her fingers as deep as she could inside of Miranda and her lips started to suck and lick around her throbbing clit. Andy flicked her fingers, massaging the inner walls with passion.

"More," Miranda wanted to order but her words came out more as a supplication. She couldn't take it for much longer.

Andy removed her fingers and shoved her tongue deep into Miranda, she made sure her nose made contact with Miranda's clit all the time as she breathed in Miranda's scent.

"I need to feel you closer, in me," Miranda pleaded and Andy knew exactly what she wanted. And she was more than happy to indulge her wishes.

Andy stood up on her feet again and locked eyes with Miranda, they were both sweating and flushed, almost exhausted, but they didn't care.

In one fast movement, Andy was able to position one of her legs between Miranda's. She used her left hand to open Miranda's pussy lips and, with her right hand, she opened herself and sat in a scissoring position, making sure both of their clitorises would rub together in a perfect match. Andy had one leg on the ground holding her up so she could make just the necessary pressure. Wasting no time, she started to grind into Miranda as she lowered herself so she could kiss Miranda again.

After just a few seconds, Miranda couldn't control her body from exploding. She let out a guttural moan inside of Andy´s mouth as she rode her orgasm out and that was all Andy needed to reach the climax that she felt was building deep inside of her belly, as she kept moving her hips into Miranda's pelvis.

This night definitely would not be forgotten any time soon.

Andy fell down into Miranda's embrace, their bodies melting perfectly together like the yin and yang symbol. Even though she wanted to continue to pleasure and be pleasured, she couldn't take it anymore, she needed to rest. Her body, with all the pressure and the effort of their fights and now making love, was begging for a break of a few minutes.

Miranda kissed her forehead and both felt into silence waiting for their heartbeats to come back down to normal.

"Let's go to our bed," Andy offered and grabbed Miranda´s hand leading them carefully between the pieces of broken glass on the floor, up the stairs to their bedroom.

xxxxxxx

The next morning, after some very much needed sleep and more love making, Andy stirred sleepily under the fine satin sheets. She lazily shifted position and was now lying on her back with Miranda pressed on her side already awake and dressed in casual clothes, looking at her.

"Morning," Miranda leaned forward and placed her lips on Andy´s, she was holding herself up on her elbow.

"Morning beautiful," Andy answered in her mouth and deepened the kiss, she could still taste Miranda on her lips.

They broke apart and Andy still had a dreamy satisfied smile all over her face.

"This was for sure the fuck of the century," Andy said as she opened her eyes again and gave Miranda another quick but loud kiss on her lips. She was feeling so much better.

Miranda smiled back at her, "someone is very sure of herself this morning," she teased and then without any warning, her hand slapped Andy on the corner of her mouth.

"Ouch," Andy winced. "What was that for?" she asked massaging her jaw but was still smiling.

"This is a reminder for you to never hit my face again," Miranda explained and kissed where she had just hit Andy´s face.

"I promise," Andy gestured the shape of a cross over her heart and smiled.

Miranda rolled her eyes at Andy´s silliness but couldn't help but smile.

"Where did you learn to do that thing with your fingers that stops the heart," Andy asked a second later, mimicking what Miranda had done with her fingers in the air.

"A long time ago, you were practically using diapers when that happened." Miranda had a sad smile gracing her face now. There were just so many things they didn't know about each other. Would they learn how to accept their dark and twisted pasts?

"I'm not that young," Andy raised an eyebrow and stole another kiss from Miranda.

Miranda started to trace an invisible line down on Andy´s chest with her hand. Her expression had changed, she seemed worried and lost in thoughts.

"What are you thinking about?" Andy asked.

"I shot you," Miranda said and stopped her hand in the exactly place the bullet should have entered in Andy´s body.

"You didn't know it was me," Andy replied caressing her cheek.

"I know, but I could've have killed you and I would never be the same person anymore. It would have changed everything." Miranda's passionate blue eyes were fixed on her younger wife´s deep browns. "I've never missed a target before Andrea, I always shoot straight in the heart and the head. I have no idea of what happened that day in Vegas."

"Well, then I'm glad that you missed this one time," Andy added with a smile.

"Me too," Miranda smiled back and placed a kiss on Andy´s chest before looking at her again.

"I love you Miranda, you have no idea how much," Andy declared and she could feel her heart was about to burst out with joy at the truth in her words.

"I do. Believe me. I do." Miranda noticed Andy was close to tears, overwhelmed with emotions. "I love you too, very much so," she completed.

Andy knew Miranda had always loved her, but it was always good to hear it.

"Are you hungry?" Miranda asked trying to lighten the mood, she didn't want to ruin everything thinking about the past.

"Please, tell me you're not going to cook," Andy asked, it sounded like a joke but deeply she was really worried.

"I don't plan on it," Miranda raised a perfect eyebrow. "go shower, you smell like sex," she kissed Andy sweetly, "I will go downstairs and see if there is any edible food left in this house."

"Yeah, whose fault was it that we shot holes in everything?" Andy smiled kissing her back and jumped out of the bed. Miranda licked her lips at the sight of Andy´s naked body moving.

"Stop staring at my butt," Andy said out of blue as she stopped by the bathroom door, "just feel free to take it whenever you feel like it". She winked at Miranda and disappeared to take her shower leaving Miranda shaking her head with a satisfied smile on her lips.

Twenty minutes later, Andy was walking into what remained of their perfect kitchen.

"Oh my God, see what you did," Andy said playfully as she held Miranda from behind.

Miranda only chuckled and turned around in the embrace. Andy was only wearing a white t-shirt and boxer shorts, and Miranda immediately knew from the hug that there was no bra involved.

"You shouldn't be barefoot, there is a lot of broken glass on the floor."

"Don't worry," Andy said and stepped back. "What is for breakfast?" she asked looking through a hole in an apple.

"Some fruits with holes as you can see and coffee," Miranda answered and poured some coffee into broken mugs and handed one to Andy.

Miranda felt quiet, she had a question going through her mind for a while and she didn't know if it was right to ask right then, but she couldn't let an another minute pass without knowing the answer.

"Can I ask you a question?" Miranda said as she turned around to face Andy who was looking inside of the fridge.

"Sure," Andy answered giving Miranda her full attention.

"What happened to you when you were fourteen years old?" Miranda asked trying to sound casual and Andy only sighed.

"My mother left us when I was three years old. My dad raised me since then, but he was killed in a robbery at his grocery store, when I was fourteen. I was there and couldn't save him." Andy looked at the ground. She could still remember that day. She had taken her father's gun from under the balcony, shot and killed those two men in the heat of the moment with so much anger that she didn't even know how she was able to do it.

Miranda reached for her hand and squeezed and Andy came out of her painful daydreaming.

"It wasn't your fault, you were barely more than a kid," Miranda said taking a single tear away from Andy´s gorgeous face.

"After that day, my life was never the same again. I was recruited into the program for training, or better saying I was forced, otherwise I would spend the rest of my life in prison for trying to defend my father." Andy forced a smile.

After a few more minutes, but this time in light conversation, both sat on the floor close to the kitchen with sandwiches and ice cream in their hands.

"You know, with some training you could be just fine using the Katana," Miranda said filling her mouth with a spoonful of non-fat ice cream.

"You think?" Andy asked excited and Miranda just nodded. "You're just fucking amazing and hot using that," Andy finished and Miranda shook her head with a smile.

"You remember the school play like two years ago, that I showed up almost in the end and Caroline gave me three days of silent treatment?" Andy asked.

"Yes," Miranda said simply.

"Gosh, Caro and Cassy were so disappointed with me, that I had to ask for a week vacation just to spend time with them." Andy smiled at the memory of how much fun they had had during that week. She loved these two girls more than life itself.

"You said you were trapped in a meeting, right?" Miranda asked.

"Well, I got Frank Lucas down that day," Andy said proudly.

"Oh God, it was you? I took Nicky Barnes down a few weeks later."

"Damn, I was after him, but the news said it was a car accident."

"No, it was me," Miranda reassured her, "during our honeymoon? Riccardo Pelizzo."

"Shut up," Andy held her spoon up in amazement, "I knew there something was wrong there, Irv wouldn't have the balls to make you leave for work on our honeymoon."

"Don't complain, I'm sure I rewarded you that night… multiple times," Miranda said mischievously and gave Andy a kiss tasting of ice cream.

"You know, that day on my way to the tattoo store I stopped a rape crime. That guy will never use his penis to anything other than pee."

"Charming!" Miranda laughed at the mental image.

"Do you have any broken bones?" Andy asked and laid her head on Miranda's lap.

"A few… you?" she asked playing with Andy´s hair.

"Yes, ribs, right arm, and I have a titanium pin on my shoulder blade, I also had a perforated eardrum like three times."

Miranda couldn't help but laugh. "You're a disaster."

"Did you ever regret taking down a target?" Andy asked.

"Never," Miranda answered with no emotion.

"Me neither."

They were lost in their chat and didn't see the movement outside the house: two trucks full of agents in bulletproof vests were parked right outside and a second later, the house was filled with a green smoke of gas.

"What the fuck!" Andy screamed turning on her side away from Miranda.

"Run," Miranda said and took Andy´s hand in hers.

TBC…


	13. Chapter 13

**Mrs. and Mrs. Priestly **

**Chapter 13**

Miranda and Andy moved smoothly out of the kitchen, red laser points could be seen everywhere above their heads and gun shots could be heard whilst more green smoke filled the house. They moved fast into the living room the best they could, Andy trying to avoid the broken glass pieces on the ground, as windows were broken and people in masks invaded the house.

Not having much time to get gun, Miranda only took the Orchid sword into the _saya_ and grabbed Andy by the arm guiding them to the kitchen again, but her actions were stopped when Andy pushed her to the opposite way and opened a lateral door that led to the basement.

"Andrea, no…" Miranda tried to push Andy back but the action was useless as Andy resisted the push.

"Get in," Andy hissed sternly, leaving no room for argument.

"You realize you just trapped us in here, right?" Miranda said as she walked down the small ladder.

"Put these," Andy threw a pair of gardening rubber shoes in Miranda's way.

"There is no way in hell I will be wearing these hideous things." Miranda said looking puzzled at the audacity of her young wife for even considering it.

Andy had finished putting on a pair of rubber shoes. "It's your choice. Wear them or get your feet cut by glasses because I'm pretty sure your fine stilettos won't help." Andy said as she bent over to search for a gun inside one of her hiding places under a balcony.

Miranda rolled her eyes and decided for just that one time to do what Andy said.

"I can't believe this is happening, the agency gave me 72 hours to take my target down." Andy said, loading a Brügger & Thomet MP-9 9mm and then hiding a second magazine inside her shoes.

"My agency gave me the same to get your head in a plate."

Andy gave her a pointed look, "It seems they trust us enough, huh?"

Miranda cautiously searched the perimeter, looking for possible escape routes. In all her years as an agent, Miranda never thought she'd find herself trapped inside her own house without an exit plan. The thought was too ridiculous to have ever even crossed her mind, it was her house after all.

"We need a plan Miranda." Andy pointed out.

"I don't really think we have much to do or to use here, Andrea, since of all places to go you dragged us to the basement," Miranda said faking annoyance, "we will have to improvise and see what they will do first."

"I think they will send a bait agent first, to distract us and then come with something bigger, they are so predictable."

Andy stood up with her gun in hand as Miranda continued to examine the area around her, looking wearily around.

"Excuse me," Miranda tapped Andy's shoulder, "why do you think you should be the one using the gun? I have much better aim than you."

"Seriously? You want to have that argument now?" Miranda only pursed her lips and Andy breathed heavily, giving Miranda the gun and taking the katana sword, "Do you really think I'm enough of an expert to use this?" Andy pointed to the sword in her hand.

"Good point." Miranda replied and exchanged the weapons once again.

Before Andy had any chance to thank Miranda for her good sense gesture, the door above them opened and they moved to take their place, ready for action but to their surprise no one came down the ladder and only a robotic device came into view and a few seconds later the sound of a ball being dropped filled the air.

"Uh-oh, not so predictable." Andy looked at Miranda, things are going to get ugly.

"Do something," Miranda ordered Andy as if she was a junior agent in a training operation.

Andy kicked the metal ball as far as she could, away from them. The ball rolled smoothly until the soft metal hit something, clicking softly. Andy grinded her teeth as she realized she'd kicked the ball towards the gas barrel. "Very nice Andrea," Miranda glared at Andy.

"You told me to do something." Andy replied and took Miranda's hand in hers as they started to run to the other ladder that had access to the side of their house. After shooting the door a few times they were outside.

"They are here." A man yelled and half second later blood descended smoothly down his neck, blow a smooth cut just where Miranda's sword had been. Before the body's low thud could be heard, an equally large man ran towards then but Andy's aim had been infallible, hitting him just between the eyes. Miranda turned to her side looking over Andy's shoulder, 4 men were prepared to approach them.

"Shoot them." Miranda said to Andy but when Andy aimed to the guys running to them her gun jammed making impossible for her to fire. Miranda, knowing what had happened, pushed Andy behind her and in one fast move of her katana sword she surrounded the four men, making small ghosted cuts on them as she stopped in the middle of them at her knee, until four lifeless bodies came down around her feet.

Andy looked in astonishment at what Miranda was capable of doing with the sword in less than five seconds and that only served to increase her knowledge that Miranda had spared her life back in the house when they were fighting. Miranda could easily kill her in a blink of an eye. But she didn't.

Andy came out of her trance when more masked men came running, firing at them as a bomb exploded, sending angry red flames in the air, swallowing everything around. They turned, watching briefly as the whole house turned into a pile of destroyed furniture and memories.

After what seemed like eternity, but in reality was only a few minutes, Andy emerged from _a pile of stuff_ while Miranda was trying to extinguish the fire on her new unfashionably shoe.

"Our house Miranda," Andy whispered standing on her feet.

Miranda gazed at her wife, understanding the meaning behind the words. They had married in that house, they had cemented memories between those walls, and now it was ruined. All physical evidence of their lives crumbled on the ground, burning quickly and turning into ashes. All they'd lived through was destroyed before their eyes.

"We don't have much time, Andrea." Miranda looked around her, most of their enemies where lying on the ground, but they were not safe yet.

They ran to the front of their destroyed house; luckily Andy´s car hadn't exploded with the house and Andy only had to remove a few ruined pieces of furniture to get in. Andy started the car and them they were back on the road.

"We need another car, this one surely is marked, and they have our GPS location."

"Ok, I will stop on the next gas station and will try to find a discrete way of transport without the possibility of tracking." Andy said speeding between changing traffic lights.

xxxxxxx

At the next exit, after Miranda had sternly reminded Andy that she was wearing only a white very transparent shirt, Andy stopped in the back of the gas station and left to find another car while Miranda was in charge of hiding the car Andy loved so much. She came back a few minutes later, finding Miranda using the disposable phone Andy had in her car.

Miranda finished her call and her eyes grew bigger while her lips tighten in a thin line of discontentment.

"Is that your idea of discrete?" Miranda pointed to the huge ice cream cone placed on the top of the ice cream truck Andy had found somewhere.

"I'm sure no one will believe that the fashion goddess will ever be seen in something like a truck and besides this one was the only one around here that do not have a GPS." Andy offered with a huge smile while she opened the door of the truck.

"I called Serena," Miranda sat on the seat next to Andy, fastening her seat belt and placed the katana sword and a gun she took from one of the men back at the house, at her side. "Roy is still doubtful but it seems he will get through this." Miranda informed her.

"I didn't do this." Andy said honestly.

"I know, I believe you." Miranda placed her hand over Andy´s.

"How are the girls?"

"_Your_ girls are fine," Miranda made emphasis on the 'yours' part, she knew how much her twins were part of Andy´s happiness, "they are safe with their father." Miranda bit the inside of her mouth, "Andrea, if we are going to do the whole, _let's be honest_ bond, I have to tell you something."

Andy gave her a puzzled look.

"The girl's father is an agent too. Retired but he is."

"Oh my God, I knew it," Andy pointed a finger at Miranda, "he practically did an interrogation the first time I went to his house to pick up the girls."

Miranda only nodded at her.

"Ok," Andy gave her a side look, "I have to honest about something. I never liked your cooking. I'm sorry, but it's not your strong side."

"Darling, I´d never set a foot in a kitchen before you came into my life."

"W..what?" Andy narrowed her eyes, "you said you learned how to cook with your mother. She was chef, wasn't she?"

"My mother´s cooking was even worse than mine, Andrea."

"What a web of lies." Andrea grumbled but Miranda heard her words.

"Right, like you're the model of honesty."

Andy was about to answer when she looked at the rearview mirror and saw two identical Mercedes and a Kawasaki motorcycle sewing the traffic in high speed.

"I think we have company." Andy said speeding the truck without much success.

Miranda looked at the mirror by her side. "Damn it!" She unfastened her seat belt and moved to the back of the truck in the best way she could between ice cream fridges.

At the closeness of the cars, Andy started to drive between the cars in front of them.

"Darling, can you please try to drive in a straight line?"

"I'm sorry sweetheart, but if we want to escape I can't let them get close to us."

Miranda balanced on her sides, trying to balance herself and find something to hold on to.

"Hold still, I need to be able to aim to shot." Miranda said opening the back door of the truck.

As soon as she did that she shoot against the car window making the guys from the car start to fire through them, making a few ice cream containers to blow and lots of ice cream cones to fly out of the car.

"Hold still Andrea," Miranda warned her annoyed, whipping some ice cream from her neck.

"I can't Miranda, there is no way I can control this car." Andy all but yelled.

The car pursuing them hit the back of the truck, almost sending them out of the road. "Shit. We are screwed." She looked at her side at the other car banging against them.

Miranda, after a few attempts to stand on her feet, was able to close the back door again and came back to stand right behind Andy´s seat.

"Let me drive Andrea."

"What… You?" Andy asked in disbelief. "Since when do you drive manual transmission, Miranda? I can do it."

"I can drive anything, Andrea, I have training to pilot an F-15 if I have to." Miranda said proudly forgetting for a moment there are in the middle of a shooting. "Move, please."

Andy knew this conversation was over and Miranda would take the wheel one way or another, she only could sigh in defeat.

"Ok, ok." Andy said and exchanged place with her beloved wife.

Andy was now in charge of the action. She opened the side window of the truck, sitting on the ice cream fridge and started to shoot the car.

"Hold the fire Andrea, the window is bullet proof." Miranda informed swigging the truck so she could hit the car.

"It won't do it, the windows are bullet proof." Andy said backing up again into the truck.

Miranda could only roll her eyes and a small smile graced her features.

Andy opened the back door once again and this time she tried another technique, she was a top agent, she was trained to use what she had in hands to save her life and accomplish a mission. She was waiting for the guys at the car to start shooting at them again and then she threw a strawberry ice cream container right on the window, causing the ice cream to blur the driver's vision and the car to swing to the side hitting another passing car.

"That´s my girl," Miranda whispered to no one in particular, while once again trying to hit the other car at her side.

"You know, baby, I have to tell you something as well." Andy said shyly.

Miranda looked at her through the rearview.

"Nate asked me to give him another chance and marry him two days before you proposed to me." Andy said and stood on her feet to grab another ice cream container to use on the bike that was fast approaching them. But the dragon lady had other plans and right now she needed some answers, so she hit the brakes making Andy fly back in the front seat with a yelp.

"My head…" Andy whimpered massaging the back of her head at the unexpected movement. "Are you nuts? They will catch us."

"You are the one I will catch and that McDonald's cook." Miranda was fuming, trying to press her fingers on Andy´s jugular.

"Miranda, he didn't even have a ring." Andy answered trying to block Miranda's talented fingers.

"Oh, but that makes me so relieved." Miranda faked a happy face. "I'm going to send him to cook french fries to Bin Laden in hell."

"Stop it, stop it, you won't kill him, you know I love you more than anything in this life," Andy said honestly and Miranda put her hand back on the wheel.

Andy smiled at Miranda but her smile soon disappeared when one of the men from the bike jumped inside of the truck and pointed the gun at them.

"Shit" Andy muttered.

Andy stood again and before the man could shot she raised her shirt showing a perfect pair of luscious rounded breasts and the man slowly put down his weapon, paralyzed at the vision in front of him.

"Andrea!" Miranda exclaimed in astonishment.

Andy jumped ahead, kicking the gun out of his grip.

"Pervert," Andy yelled at him while hitting him right on the face with the whipped cream hose and pulled the man out of the truck making him land on the bike driver arms and both felt on the ground.

"Two down, one to go." Andy said smugly but Miranda was still amazed and not a bit happy with the revelation.

"You know Miranda, you can't be mad at me, I married you."

"You should have married him I'm sure he would have loved that damn tacky vase we got from your family."

"Hum…" Andy muttered the next words.

"What did you say?"

"I said the vase was not a family present." Andy tripped on an ice cream scoop.

"Then who sent the vase?"

"I bought it on eBay and sent as wedding present."

"Jesus, Andrea, you have no shame at all." Miranda swung the car to her side hitting the remained car in their pursuit.

"Ouch!" Andy whimpered again as her head hit the sodas compartment. "If they don't kill us, Miranda, you will." Andy yelled as Miranda passed just a few centimeters between a heavy truck and the coasting wall.

"You are a compulsive liar, Andrea." Miranda slurred to herself but Andy could hear perfectly.

"Don't be hypocritical Miranda. I know you must have lots of little secrets under that façade."

Miranda snorted annoyed, she knew this next revelation would set Andy on fire.

"I had an affair with Jacqueline Bisset."

Andy´s jaw went to the ground.

"Oh my God, Miranda," she said as she was trying to block the gun shots with ice cream buckets, "you said when we had to have dinner with her to set the details so she could be on the cover of September issue for _Runway_ that you only knew her briefly and she was totally flirting with you all night…"

"I know, and I'm sorry, I didn't want you to get insecure…" Miranda was trying to find an excuse but Andy cut her off.

"…you know what? I don't want to talk about anymore." Andy raised her hand, indicating she was done having honest talk.

"Don't be mad darling," Miranda softened her voice at the same time she drove between cars trying to evade, making Andy swing to her sides as she tried to positioned herself on top of the fridge so she could have a clean shot.

"Shoot on the crack of the car hood, Andrea." Miranda instructed as she looked by the side mirror that the hood was a bit elevated, leaving a perfect space to a good shot.

Andy fired 4 shots but missed by little and only hit the car headlight.

"Damn it," Andy huffed.

"Any time, my love." Miranda said with a roll of eyes.

"I will do it."

Andy said aiming once again but Miranda decided was time to end this cat and mouse pursuit. She turned the wheel all the way to her left side making the truck stop facing the enemy car and Miranda to have the perfect view to shot.

With an expert stead hand, Miranda blasted 4 rounds of bullets, hitting the car in the right spot, enough to make the car catch fire and start to capsize in front of them as she kept driving backwards with the truck.

Andy sat quietly at Miranda's side, removing a thin line of whipped cream out of her hair narrowing her eyes at the silver haired woman.

"What?" Miranda equally narrowed her eyes at Andy.

"You shot with your left hand." Andy said more as an statement than a question.

"I can do numerous things with both hands Andrea," Miranda gave Andy a self-satisfied look. "I'm a fine example of ambidextrous talent."

"As soon as we take a shower together and make hot and horny love so you can show me that left hand talent you pride yourself on, we will have to have a long talk and clarify all the untrue things we told each other all these 3 years."

"_2 years_, Andrea, _2 years_." Miranda couldn't keep the straight face for long and cracked a faint smile at the love of her life.

**Tbc…**


End file.
